The Metropolitan Police have issued a warning that fraudsters are stealing the personal details of landlords whose properties are managed by letting agents.
The fraudsters then email other letting agents in a bid to con them into believing they own the property.
Through several emails, the fraudsters build up a relationship with the letting agency which, crucially, also has a sales division. After a short period, they inform the agent that they wish to sell the property or want to raise a mortgage on it.
A spokesman for the Met said: “This is a complex fraud which suggests the fraudsters have a very good understanding of estate agency.
“They understand how the agent, solicitor and mortgage adviser and lender interact with each other, and the weaknesses in their processes.”
Agents and landlords are being urged to tighten their security.
Comments
This is a no brainer. How many e-mails come in from banks and what do you do with them?
The same must apply to sales or lettings only deal with vendors/landlords who meet you and give proper ID.
We had a Client who moved to Nigeria (where else!) and her mail was intercepted over there. The fraudsters managed to instruct both an UK Estate Agent and a Solicitor to sell her property and it was only because the Building Society sent a mortgage statement to both the Solicitor and the Client's old address that the fraud was exposed. We got a call from our Client to ask what was going on and, upon investigation, we found that the Solicitor and Estate Agent had taken instructions only by e-mail. The moral is if you get informed of a change of address by either e-mail or fax make sure you contact the Client by telephone or text to confirm the changes are true.