Dawn Elrick and her partner were preparing to buy a house in Glasgow’s west end for £272,000. With a four-year-old son and Dawn eight months pregnant, the couple needed more space. They had vacated their rental flat, packed up all their belongings, and transferred a £172,000 deposit money they had saved for years to the bank details provided by their solicitor.
They believed they would collect the keys the same day or the next. But excitement soon turned to panic.
The Shocking Discovery
During the final meeting to conclude the missives, their solicitor mentioned it was odd that the deposit hadn’t arrived. Dawn had proof of payment, so she initially didn’t worry. By the next morning, the solicitor confirmed the funds still hadn’t cleared.
“Two hours later, he phoned back and said these weren’t his bank details. It was a NatWest account, and he was with Bank of Scotland. That was when we started to panic,” Dawn recalls.
Initially, she felt blamed for a supposed mistake. NatWest hadn’t frozen the account, and the solicitor became increasingly aggressive, siding with the sellers. Dawn then discovered a document from her solicitor’s office, sent on official letterhead, containing the rogue bank details.
“It was like a grenade going off. I said, ‘Someone has messed with our emails. Someone has taken this money.’”
Push-Payment Fraud and International Transfers
The police quickly identified the scam as push-payment fraud, in which victims are tricked into transferring funds to fraudsters posing as legitimate figures.
The money had been traced to a “mule,” described as a vulnerable woman likely exploited by criminals. By the time NatWest froze the account, only £13,000 remained. The rest had already been siphoned off in small amounts to accounts in South Africa, Russia, and South America.
Dawn and her family were able to recover the £13,000, but the majority of their savings were gone forever.
How the Fraud Happened
The solicitor had been sending unencrypted documents on a shared server with other businesses. Police suspect that criminals targeted his weak security, hacked into his emails, and sent fake communications to Dawn, masquerading as her solicitor.
“We have no idea how long this went on for, but it was long enough to steal the money,” Dawn says.
The Fallout: Homeless and Financially Strained
The family’s situation deteriorated rapidly:
- They were left homeless and stayed with friends for seven weeks.
- Their possessions were held by a removal firm, incurring thousands in storage fees.
- Furious sellers placed a decree against them, affecting their credit ratings.
- They were forced to move into a tiny attic flat, despite having a £100,000 mortgage arranged.
Despite the devastating loss, the family eventually relocated to the street they had originally planned to move to, though in a smaller basement flat.
Lessons Learned: Protect Yourself from Property Scams
Dawn offers crucial advice for potential homebuyers:
- Ensure emails are secure and documents encrypted when discussing property transactions.
- For large cash transfers, send a small test sum first to verify account legitimacy.
- Choose your solicitor wisely, ensuring they follow robust security measures.
Bank Response
A NatWest spokesperson said:
“If someone has been impacted by fraud, we absolutely want to help, but we have been unable to verify and investigate this case as no NatWest bank account details were provided.
We fully adhere to the codes from the payment regulator. We take authorised push payment scams very seriously and have a range of checks in place to protect our customers.”
