Eliminate Transfer Fraud and Financial Crime - Exclusively for Legal Professionals.
"Law Firms Lose £13.65 billion
to Cybercriminals each year"
"Law Firms Lose £13.65 billion
to Cybercriminals each year"
Reported by the Financial Conduct Authority
Don't let cyber criminals defraud your clients
& shred your reputation.
Join with us today to eliminate financial fraud and defeat cyber crime.
As a Conveyancing Lawyer...
You regularly move large sums of money and rely on the banks to transfer it to the correct account.
However, the most important information, the bank details are confirmed with your client over the phone. But how can you be sure who you're really talking to?
Do you even remember what they sound like since you speak with so many people on a daily basis.
Mimicking your clients voice is
Simple with artificial intelligence
In today's digital age, mimicking someone’s voice is easy with artificial intelligence. A child can do it, so it's effortless for a cybercriminal. They can convincingly mimic a person's voice including your clients, and do it in real time.
It's a sobering fact that everyone needs to be aware of.
your clients can lose 100% of their money
They may not even realise the importance of the call. To them, it's just another interaction with their lawyer. They might not understand that if their bank details have been tampered with, this call is their last opportunity to prevent their funds from being stolen.
To you and your firm, the call is crucial. It's the only way to ensure the safe transfer of important funds. Any mistakes at this point will have disastrous consequences.
If the bank details have been changed, the client could lose all of the money being transferred - it's potentially 100% of the funds in transit at risk.
When the funds are stolen it's impossible to retrieve them. They disappear into the digital void, converted into untraceable cryptocurrency.
Insurance will not cover the loss, and even if it did, it would take months of disruption to investigate.
And if you imagine you can rely on the authorities to track down the perpetrators, unfortunately the truth is the police and the National Cyber Security Centre, despite their best efforts, are very rarely able to assist.
You will never get the money back
The practice of confirming bank details over the phone is a glaring weakness in the conveyancing process. It presents a significant risk to your firm and your clients as it invites cybercriminals to exploit this vulnerability.
The damage isn't just financial - it will harm your reputation and your client relationships beyond repair.
This is what happens when it goes wrong
I make a call to the client to confirm their bank details, the fourth one today.
“Hi Paul, Good news the house has completed. Can I check your bank details so we can send the money.”
This is all very routine. I’ve done it so many times before. I confirm their bank details and proceed with the transfer.
I’m glad this call was quick, as half the time I can’t even reach them. I normally waste hours calling them over and over, and when I do get through all they want to know is when they’ll get their money.
The phone rings, again. It never stops ringing.
It’s another client pushing to get their money. They always want it yesterday but it’s out of my hands. It’s down to the banks.
“Hello”
“It’s Paul Greenfield, I want to find out when the money will arrive as nothing is in my account yet. I was expecting it this morning.”
“Yes I’ll check for you… I’m sure it’s just delayed…. Yes, I will, Yes as I said I’ll check”
It’s hard to remain calm with pushy clients, I have so much work on my plate but I make the call and get someone to look into it.
Later, I get my answer.
“Bad news, the reason they haven’t got their money, is that It’s not there. The money’s gone !!! ”
This is the call I never wanted to get. My stomach drops and I feel sick. I feel a cold dread flow down my body and notice my hands are sweating. What should I do. Fear sets in. I knew it could happen but just not to me, it happens to other people, not me.
What should I do? I need to call the client. It’s going to be the worst call I ever make. What do I tell them? Should I find out more before calling? Should I call the client first?
So, I dial the number. Trying not to let my voice shake, I feel responsible, guilty, I don’t want to make this call. This is going to be hard.
“Hello… I’ve got some bad news. There’s been a problem with the bank transfer. We’re speaking with them to find out what happened, but rest assured we have insurance.”
The client went ballistic. I could feel their persona change. They became unreasonable, angry, accusing, demanding,
“What the hell are you talking about.”
I was listening to them but I couldn’t stop thinking of the devastation this could cause. What if I can’t get the money?
I explain as calmly as I can that this is a priority for the firm, and we have insurance….
After the call was over, I couldn’t focus on anything else. But I have to wait to find out what’s happened to their money.
Is this the only transfer that’s gone wrong? I’ve made others, have they all gone wrong?
A call arrives with an update. Thank Goodness.
“Hi, ok let me get straight to it. The money has been stolen and the bank won’t pay. They said it’s our fault and it’s too late to recover it.”
My stomach sinks. I feel queasy, a cold sweat, fear, palpitations. My mind is racing. How do I tell the client that their money is stolen? That they’ll lose their house. Maybe never get their money back.
“The Insurance company says we’re not covered, and they say it’s our fault, but they’re coming in to investigate anyway.
They said it will take a few weeks to complete”
I’m conflicted, confused. I blame myself; I feel the weight of guilt. Is it my fault? Is it theirs? I did what I was supposed to do, I called the client. But now everyone is blaming me, am I to blame? The client is blaming me.
I feel ashamed, angry, this is someone’s life that’s being ruined. Everyone is looking at me.
I need to call the client back. I need to pull myself together. What am I going to say? What can I say?
I call, the response is… disbelief and anger.
“What are you taking about? how can the money be stolen? I want my money, I want it today, I don’t care about your excuses. The money was sent to you so I want it in my account… I want it now.”
He would not listen, I was trying to calm him down, but he just kept demanding the money.
“Who do I need to speak to? I’m coming to the office now. Wait til I get there”
That was the worst phone call and now the angry client is coming to meet me face to face.
The partners are meeting, will they pay out of their own pockets or fight it? Will the client lose their house? Will they sue us? Will the SRA investigate ?
If this gets out our reputation is shot. Everyone will talk.
Can I survive this? will I still have a job? will anyone trust me?
Who would trust our firm with their money now? I wouldn’t.
With AssuredTransfer your clients money Is 100% Secure.
AssuredTransfer has been engineered from the ground up to be completely secure even when all the systems around it are compromised.
We gave it two unique security features... Immutability and Distributed Approvals.
Once data is entered into the system it’s immutable, meaning it can never be changed and from the moment you enter the first data all the way though to making money transfers requires unanimous approval by all parties involved.
When combined your data is secure and so is your money.
Currently your money can be stolen
Here’s The Simple Reason Why
When you transfer money, you never know if the bank details are correct, they could have been changed by a hacker, a member of staff who’s been manipulated or deceived, a security person, a cleaner or a disgruntled employee. Even violence, extortion or kidnap can be used to force people into changing bank details.
To make matters worse, this affects all computer systems.
This affects All computer systems including all banks, all accounting systems and all practice management software
Changes can be made in all banks including HSBC, Lloyds or Barclays, all accounting systems like QuickBooks, Xero or Sage and all practice management software like 3E, Aderate or Clio. And when the details are changed, you’ll never know as there is no Distributed Approval process in any of them.
With AssuredTransfer nothing can be added, changed or initiated without everyone’s unanimous approval.
When you enter details all the way through to initiating the final transfer, everyone involved from the Lawyers to the Clients can see exactly what’s entered and exactly where it’s going. This Distributed Approval process allows everyone to deny or approve each and every transaction so you never need to make a phone call ever again.
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