Fraud Prevention
- Fraud Prevention A variety of scams are deployed by fraudsters to steal landlords and agents resources. It is prudent for landlords to ensure they register with HM Land Registry and subscribe to receive alerts in the event they own a property a fraudster is attempting to sell. Up to 10 properties per email can be registered. Enabling additional emails allows landlords to register larger portfolios in blocks of 10. Tenant fraud can be identified: Scammers posed as a successful professionals, earning above average income Their documents are convincing, including: bank statements, references, and employment evidence. Convincing documents can require advanced investigation to detect. Victims can become embroiled in enabling scams, innocently forwarding funds received from other victims (aided by fraudsters) to third parties as part of an elaborate money laundering and distancing program. FAKE EMAILS AND OTHER SCAMS: Agencies are targeted by scammers who sent an email allegedly from the owner to accounts staff requesting urgent and immediate payment of large sums. Do not rely on good banks detecting suspicious activity. Many scammers have poor literacy skills which betray their scams. A closer look at a fake email revealed some obvious clues, despite it being very convincing using owner email signatures and staff names. There are many types of scam not limited to just asking for money. Agency staff therefore need to be vigilant and aware of such scams AND sufficiently literate in order to be capable of identifying spelling and grammatical mistakes as well as anomalies which can thwart such attacks. Only rarely should urgent same day action be sanctioned! Such urgency is itself a trigger prompting an immediate warning that something may be wrong, requiring telephone confirmation.
See also
Published: 13 January 2022
Last Updated: 13 January 2022