Keep your home safe
If you know what to look out for and how to act, you can keep your home safe from scams.
Mortgage scams
If you ever need to move large amounts of money, like when you buy a house, it could be a target for a scam. But if you know what to look out for you can stay safe.
What to look out for:
- Emails that ask for a payment - Scam emails can pretend to be from your solicitor and ask for a payment. Fraudsters like to hack into emails to try and get you to send money to an account they control.
- A new bank account - Scams will say a bank account has changed or can’t be used right now. If an email asks for a payment to a different bank account then it’s probably a scam.
- Urgent payments - Scams try to get you to pay quickly. If you get an email that asks you to pay right away, it’s probably fake.
What you can do:
- Check account details - If you get an email that asks for a payment, call the sender to double check the sort code and account number. But call from a number you trust, not the one in the email.
- Look for mistakes - A scam email can have spelling mistakes in the address and message. You can call the sender to make sure it’s a genuine message. But call from a number you trust, not the one in the email.
- Stay safe online - You should use strong passwords that only you know. This can help to stop people from hacking your account. Use a new password for each online account. You should also keep your anti-virus, operating system and browser up to date. And be careful if you use free WiFi to check your emails.
- Make a small test payment - If you need to pay a large amount of money, you can send a few pounds first. Then you can call to make sure the person got it before paying the rest. But call from a number you trust, not the one in the email.
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Prudential Regulation Authority
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