It is well known that large amounts of money are typically involved in property transactions, making conveyancing fraud an attractive target among cyber criminals. Conveyancing transactions are often fast moving and pressurised, and scammers may impersonate anyone involved in a property transaction including owners, buyers, borrowers, lenders, or conveyancers.
Fraud is not subsiding and for conveyancing law firms this is mainly due to handling significant funds and the sensitive client data that is stored. The ONS confirmed last year that fraud and computer misuse offences have increased substantially over the last two years, and the proportion of fraud incidents that were cyber-related increased to 61% from 53% in the year ending March 2020.
Law firms are aware of the need to tighten cyber security and with UK government plans to add a ‘failure to prevent fraud’ offence to the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill, the necessity for risk management and protection against fraud is essential. Is your law firm protected?
Cyber security threats
Battling cyber threats is imperative and many law firms are experiencing threats daily, such as authorised push payment fraud, phishing, and ransomware.
Authorised push payment fraud
Conveyancing law firms are often a target to authorised push payment fraud due to the substantial amounts of funds being transferred daily, along with the pressure of home movers needing to act quickly.
Scammers will impersonate lawyers to divert payments to their own bank accounts. Often or not this type of cybercrime will be carried out via email, phone, or social media and because the victim has authorised the payment, they also become liable.
Phishing
Phishing scams are some of the most common types of attacks carried out on law firms. Cyber criminals carrying out phishing attacks are aiming to extract confidential information such as usernames, passwords, and anything else that can be used to access sensitive data. As with most crimes, phishing scams are evolving and they often try to look like they have come from senior firm members, this is known as whaling.
Ransomware
Similar to phishing, ransomware scams usually involve emails. However, what sets them apart is that they often have an encrypted attachment added to the email, this blocks access to the victim’s data and locks the computer network until a ransom has been paid. This can cause significant disruptions to the law firm, as they are unable to analyse documents or communicate with clients through the computer.
Is your law firm protected?
Law firms know that continual vigilance and training can help minimise cyber-attack threats. Other ways to protect your firm against fraudulent activity is through the use of a reputable conveyancing case management provider.
Redbrick Solutions battle conveyancing fraud with our specialist conveyancing software providing clients with multiple tools to protect each and every matter.
Clients can utilise our seamless integrations combatting fraud including, efficient and reliable Biometric ID Checks, trusted and secure Law Firm Identity Checking Technology and best in class Source of Funds Checks. With multiple reliable tools, law firms can ensure that their clients are genuine as well as the bank accounts and law firms the conveyancing funds are sent to.
Redbrick’s conveyancing case management software also provides functionality to automate much of the process, removing the risk of error in duplicating data. Correct contact details for all parties are stored within the conveyancing software, so you can quickly and easily check they are valid. Redbrick provides a full audit trail of everything that has happened on a matter which is stored in one easy to access place. Following key steps throughout the conveyancing process is essential to protect law firms and their clients, and Redbrick’s risk management solution enables firms to effectively demonstrate this and offers the benefit to easily run reports to meet compliance requirements.
Our secure document sharing portal uses the latest two-factor authentication so that you and your clients can have peace of mind knowing that their sensitive information cannot be intercepted by cyber criminals. You can quickly and easily choose which documents you wish to share via the portal and clients can access the portal to view via a notification. They are then able to simply download and complete any documents at a time that is convenient for them.
Get in touch with Redbrick today or download our brochure below to discover how you can manage your conveyancing digitally with Redbrick Solutions.