Conveyancing payment scams: checks for Derry home movers

An urgent payment message is a reason to pause

If a message says your solicitor's bank details have changed, stop before sending money. Use an independently verified contact route to check the request. A familiar name, a convincing email chain or knowledge of your Derry house move is not enough to establish that a payment instruction is genuine.

The Law Society of Northern Ireland warns that criminals target correspondence between solicitors and clients to divert money. Its money-transfer guidance tells clients to verify unusual requests by an agreed telephone number or face to face, and not to accept last-minute bank-account changes by email. Apply that caution to the payment itself, however busy moving day becomes.

Agree a verification routine at the start

Ask your solicitor how payment instructions will be provided, how you will check them and how the firm will verify details for any sale proceeds it sends to you. Agree the contact person and office number before there is a deadline. The Law Society leaflet recommends exchanging bank details face to face in hard copy, not by email or text.

Make a private payment plan with the purpose of each expected transfer, who will instruct it and the verification step. Leave amounts or dates blank until the solicitor confirms them. Keep the plan somewhere secure, not in a shared moving checklist that includes removals companies, buyers or other people who do not need banking information.

If another person is contributing funds, ask the solicitor how they should receive and verify instructions. Forwarding a payment email to a family member is not an independent check. Everyone making a transfer needs to know which trusted route to use and what to do when a message differs from the agreed process.

Check outside the suspicious conversation

Do not reply to the message to ask whether it is genuine, or call the new number it supplies. NCSC advises contacting the organisation directly using independently obtained details. Use the office number you established at the start or verify the official contact route separately. Explain the exact request and ask the firm to check it.

A message may claim that a deadline will be missed unless you act immediately. Tell the real solicitor about that pressure as well as the proposed bank change. A sensible response is: I have received a different instruction and will not authorise a transfer until it has been independently confirmed. Do not let the message set the verification process.

Protect the information around the move

Avoid posting a detailed completion timetable, solicitor correspondence or financial documents publicly. NCSC notes that information available online can make phishing more convincing. Keep routine moving updates separate from the private records used for the transaction, and think about who actually needs each piece of information.

Do not click a link in an unexpected message to confirm bank details, and do not send passwords or one-time security codes to someone who contacts you. Keep your devices and account security up to date. Ask the solicitor about a suspicious request before uploading identity or financial documents through an unfamiliar route.

If money has already gone, contact the bank immediately

If you think you have made a fraudulent payment, contact your bank immediately through its official app or a known genuine number. Explain what happened, when and which transaction is involved. Tell your solicitor through the verified contact route too. Do not wait for the sender of the suspicious message to reply before raising the alarm.

Keep the original messages and transaction records for the bank, solicitor and any report they ask you to make. NCSC provides steps for people who have shared sensitive information, including securing compromised accounts. Follow the current reporting guidance and do not assume that a payment can be recovered or that reimbursement is guaranteed.

An online house-value estimate is separate from the legal transfer of property and money. Keep the bank-detail checks with your solicitor and bank. There is no reason to put your conveyancing payment instructions into a valuation enquiry.

For ordinary moving preparation, see who to tell about rates when you move.

At the earlier price-planning stage, start a Derry guide estimate. Name and email are required for the estimate and report; follow-up is optional.