You’ll know that Easter is a target period for criminals. Make sure all your staff do too.

The Easter period is well known to see an increase in fraud attempts against conveyancers.

The Easter period is well known to see an increase in fraud attempts against conveyancers, so it's important that everyone within your company is alert to the risk.

Whilst the threat from fraudsters is ongoing, it becomes even more prevalent before holidays such as Easter; this is mainly because criminals much more leeway to get away with the stolen funds before companies are likely to notice - in this instance, four whole days.

The most common fraudulent attacks will usually come in one of four ways: hacking, ransomware, email modification fraud (EMF) and CEO fraud.

Along with using Lawyer Checker’s Account Entity screen - which ensures client funds are sent to a legitimate bank account – you should take this opportunity to remind staff to be mindful of social engineering risks. This provides client money with as an additional layer of security, as well as instilling a risk aware culture within a firm.

It's essential that, at times such as Easter, professionals do not let their guard down and remain alert to targeting attempts of all kinds. For example, one particular technique which staff should be aware of is 'social engineering'.

Social engineering is the process of deceptively manipulating employees to provide confidential company or personal information, to be used in such fraudulent acts as outlined above. This could, for example be where an employee is contacted several days, weeks or months prior to a fraud attempt by someone purporting to be a legitimate contact at a company you do business with. Having built up rapport with the employee, they can - at a later date - exploit the employee and use the relationship to their advantage. They will use this prior relationship to extract information, or even change payment details that you have on record.

This emphasises the need to routinely use Lawyer Checker, as mistakes can be made even by the most security-conscious of employees. Take this opportunity to remind your staff of the need to be alert this Easter.

Ensure you always use Lawyer Checker as part of your ongoing, comprehensive security strategy. Don’t wait until after you have been the victim of fraud to act. Prevention is protection.