LMS has introduced its free Bank Account Check service to help borrowers combat fraud in the home buying process.
The Bank Account Check has been operating as a direct service for law firms since 2016 and access has now been expanded to any borrower with an active case via LMS’ panel.
The fraud prevention tool that allows consumers to confirm their law firm’s bank details before transferring any funds required. To deliver the service, LMS maintains a secure database of bank details which borrowers can check against to ensure that they are sending money to the right destination.
The next step of the Bank Account Check rollout will be to offer law firms the opportunity to feature the service on their own website.
According to the FCA, £350m was lost in ‘push payment frauds’ in 2018. Fraudsters frequently target both borrowers and banks, intercepting correspondence and imitating the law firm involved in the conveyancing process. The hacker then emails the target (‘phishing’) with new bank details for the borrower to transfer their deposit.
The LMS Bank Account Check covers approximately 7,000 branch records and 97% of conveyancing law firms transactions in the UK. If the law firm’s details do not match, or if they are unavailable to check against, an alert is triggered that the borrower needs to speak direct to the firm before transferring any of their money.
Nick Chadbourne, chief executive officer at LMS, said: “Deposit fraud can completely derail a borrower’s chance of home ownership, removing years of hard-earned savings in a few seconds. We’re therefore delighted to launch our LMS’ Bank Account Check service for borrowers within our target timeframe. It’s a good feeling knowing LMS is actively trying to stop this type of fraudulent activity in the market.
“It’s important that the industry continues to work together to improve the home buying process at all stages, and we hope borrowers take advantage of the available technology like our Bank Account Check to offer some security against deposit fraud and mitigate risk.”
