What are the red flags of this scam?

You receive an email that appears to be from your solicitor changing the bank account details for your deposit or completion funds — solicitors almost never change their bank details mid-transaction • The email address looks correct at a glance but has a subtle difference: an extra letter, a different domain, or a hyphen that was not in previous emails • The change of bank details email arrives at a time of pressure — late on a Friday, the day before exchange, or the day before completion • The email uses the right names, logos, and references because the fraudster has been reading your email chain • The new account details belong to a bank you have not previously associated with your solicitor

What should I do if this happened to me?

Before transferring any property funds, always call your solicitor on a number you already have — find it from the solicitor's official website or your original instruction letter, not from a contact in an email • Read every character of the sender email address carefully — compare it letter-by-letter against previous genuine emails from the firm • If you have already sent money to the wrong account, call your bank immediately and ask them to use the Faster Payment recall procedure — speed is critical as funds may still be frozen • Also contact your solicitor's firm directly to report the compromise — their email account may still be sending fraudulent messages to other clients • Report to Report Fraud at https://www.reportfraud.police.uk or call 0300 123 2040.

CRITICAL banking Last reported: 21 Oct 2026 Share

An email from your solicitor changes the bank details for your house deposit — the account belongs to fraudsters

Q: Is this a scam?

Yes. This is a documented scam pattern. Criminals intercept emails between homebuyers and solicitors and substitute fraudulent bank account details for the deposit or completion payment. Called 'Friday afternoon fraud'; average loss £47,000; losses totalled £101M in 2025–26.

Criminals intercept emails between homebuyers and solicitors and substitute fraudulent bank account details for the deposit or completion payment. Called 'Friday afternoon fraud'; average loss £47,000; losses totalled £101M in 2025–26.

Also known as: Friday afternoon fraud, payment diversion fraud conveyancing, solicitor email hack property fraud, conveyancing fraud UK, house deposit intercepted scam

Already happened to you? Do this in the next few minutes

1 Call your bank or card's fraud line right now. Use the number on the back of your card — not any number from the message or caller. Ask them to stop or reverse the payment and freeze the account.
2 If you paid by gift card, wire, or an app (Zelle, Venmo, Cash App): contact that company immediately and report it as fraud. Acting fast sometimes recovers the money.
3 Report to the FBI at ic3.gov and the FTC at reportfraud.ftc.gov. The sooner, the better.

What to do right now

1 Before transferring any property funds, always call your solicitor on a number you already have — find it from the solicitor's official website or your original instruction letter, not from a contact in an email
2 Read every character of the sender email address carefully — compare it letter-by-letter against previous genuine emails from the firm
3 If you have already sent money to the wrong account, call your bank immediately and ask them to use the Faster Payment recall procedure — speed is critical as funds may still be frozen
4 Also contact your solicitor's firm directly to report the compromise — their email account may still be sending fraudulent messages to other clients
5 Report to Report Fraud at https://www.reportfraud.police.uk or call 0300 123 2040.

Red flags

⚠ You receive an email that appears to be from your solicitor changing the bank account details for your deposit or completion funds — solicitors almost never change their bank details mid-transaction
⚠ The email address looks correct at a glance but has a subtle difference: an extra letter, a different domain, or a hyphen that was not in previous emails
⚠ The change of bank details email arrives at a time of pressure — late on a Friday, the day before exchange, or the day before completion
⚠ The email uses the right names, logos, and references because the fraudster has been reading your email chain
⚠ The new account details belong to a bank you have not previously associated with your solicitor

Already happened to you? Do this in the next few minutes

What to do right now

Red flags

Sources