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Almost half of property lawyers unaware of fraud schemes
New research has shown that a large percentage of Australian property lawyers don’t know about new property fraud schemes targeting unsuspecting buyers.
Jerome Doraisamy
According to new GlobalX research — which surveyed 170 property lawyers and conveyancing professionals — 46 per cent of respondents were unaware of the latest phishing scams that have been targeting property investors and home buyers.
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GlobalX chief executive Peter Maloney said scammers were hacking conveyancers’ client lists, impersonating them and emailing clients to offer advice regarding changing property trust account details, so that those clients would transfer property purchase funds into new, fraudulent accounts.
“Conveyancers need to be aware and so do property buyers,” he said.
“This survey highlights the importance of lawyers and conveyancers knowing more about what risks they, and their clients, can face and providing advice to their clients as to how they can protect themselves.”
Australian Institute of Conveyancers president Shane Jacobs echoed the call for all involved in the property purchase process to be “diligent”, and for both buyers and conveyancers to become “more informed”.
“If you receive an email that you think is suspicious, buyers should be calling their conveyancers to confirm [whether or not] it is legitimate,” he suggested.
“Scammers are getting smarter, so property buyers and their legal representation need to be aware in order to protect themselves.”
Mr Maloney echoed this, saying: “We advise all property lawyers and conveyancers to inform their clients about scams and let them know that they would never contact them via email to change such crucial financial details as property trust account details.”
The research — which has been released in conjunction with this week’s National Scams Awareness Week — comes after numerous incidents in South Australia and Western Australia last year, in which eight people fell victim to such scams and were defrauded millions of dollars.
