Divorce Funds Can You Be Sure You’re Sending Them To The Right Person?

Getting divorced can be one of the most stressful times in a person’s life. Dividing assets and coming to a financial settlement only adds to the stress.

When a settlement has finally been agreed, it’s down to you, to safely ensure the transaction of monies from one account to another. But how do you know the account you’re transferring the funds to belongs to the correct recipient?

Approximately 1,400 cyber criminals are circling the waters around these transactions, waiting for the taste of blood when they see a flaw in the firm’s cyber security enabling them to hijack emails and change bank details.

A recent example of this saw fraudsters benefit from a £67,000 windfall after hacking into emails between a first-time buyer and his solicitor. Not necessarily in the same legal space as family lawyers, but the threat is still there.

At the end of a busy working week, or even a day, the pressure of getting cases signed off could result in minor spelling changes in email addresses going unnoticed. This is what fraudsters bet on, and once they’ve got you on their hook they reel you in and extort as much out of you as they can. Criminals can send you their own bank details purporting to being one of the divorce parties, and wait for you to do the rest.

Consumer Bank Account Checker (CBAC) can help you combat the cyber fraudsters and safeguard your client’s monies.

CBAC enables solicitors to add an extra layer of due diligence and triple check that the owner of the bank account is the intended recipient of the money. Consumer Bank Account Checker also enhances Anti Money Laundering (AML) processes. This is achieved by ensuring there is a direct link between the client that the solicitor has conducted an AML check on and the bank account details from which the funds are being received.

Consumer Bank Account Checker is powered by Experian’s unrivalled consumer database and is supported by dedicated UK support staff. You are provided with an instantaneous response to your registered email account when a search is performed.

Highlights of the new Consumer Bank Account Checker product include:

• Enhanced Due Diligence – An added layer of protection is put in place when remitting funds to your client, ensuring you avoid liability and adhere to the SRA’s Code of Conduct
• Validate Source of Funds – Help combat mortgage fraud and incentive practices with an additional check in validating your clients’ source of funds
• Reduce the Risk of Fraud – An additional step to a robust risk management procedure

This article was submitted to be published by Lawyer Checker as part of their advertising agreement with Today’s Family Lawyer. The views expressed in this article are those of the submitter and not those of Today’s Family Lawyer.