Property transactions have become a major target for fraudsters in recent years, but agents will have an opportunity to learn more about how to stop property fraud from occurring by attending a webinar being held early next year, which will feature a panel of experts focusing on compliance, due diligence and verification in the property industry.

The live event, titled ’Compliance, Due Diligence And Verification. Everything You Need To Know’, will take place on Wednesday 26 January 2022 between 10am and 11am.

During the webinar, which is being hosted by PropTech platform Checkboard, the panel will discuss recent approaches to property fraud attacks and how criminal gangs benefit from them.

It will also analyse the impact on financial services and property industries throughout the world, as well as lessons learned from large-scale attacks using popular software and threat intelligence.

Yazad Bajina, sales and partnership director at Checkboard, and a former employee of Leaders Romans Group, will be joined on the webinar by a number of experts in the industry, including Russell Humphrey, founder and CEO of The Humphrey Group, to discuss and uncover ways to challenge the status quo with financial crime risk assessments.

Topics which will be discussed on the day include data protection, money laundering risk and what goes into assessing the risk, PEPs and AML, the traditional money laundering process and real-life stories, and UK regulations the property industry needs to be compliant with.

“Many of us saw the recent story on BBC News about Reverend Hall returning to his house and finding it stripped of all furnishings after it was sold without his knowledge,” Yazad said. “While shocking and extreme, this isn’t as rare as we might like to think – property fraud is becoming an increasing problem, with increasingly sophisticated operations to defraud and swindle people.”

He continued: “In the Reverend’s case, he returned to his home in Luton to find building work under way and a new owner in place who said he’d purchased the property. After an investigation by the BBC, it became clear that Hall’s identity had been stolen and used to sell the house, with the criminals banking the proceeds. Sadly, this isn’t an isolated incident.”

“It might sound like the work of fiction – and indeed Louise Candlish’s best-selling novel, Our House, deals with a very similar situation to the above – but it’s becoming all too real for those unfortunate enough to be the victims of such crimes.”

“This is just one example of property fraud, and the increasingly bold and complex lengths fraudsters will go to. It’s not enough for people just to be wary and cautious – much better compliance and levels of verification are required,” Yazad added.  “This is why we’re holding the webinar early next year – to help educate agents, landlords, property professionals, investors and others about the role compliance, due diligence and verification have to play in keeping property fraud at bay.”

You can register for the free event here