A webinar featuring a panel of industry experts will take place tomorrow zoning in on compliance, due diligence and verification in the property industry, and how these factors can help to stop property fraud from happening.

The on hour-long live event, which runs from 10am to 11am, is being held by PropTech platform Checkboard under the title of Compliance, Due Diligence And Verification. Everything You Need To Know.

Property fraud attacks have been on the rise in recent year, with criminal gangs increasingly seeing property as a profitable area in which to carry out their criminal activity.

Some of the topics that will be discussed on the webinar include:

• Current regulations to be compliant: for example, what the law states, and what agents have to do in order to adhere to HMRC regulations, as well as being part of the TPO (The Property Ombudsman) scheme.

• What agents should do when they get an alert that a customer is more of a risk – for example anti-money laundering (AML) checks, PEPs (Politically Exposed Persons), and Sanction Screening.

• An explanation of how Checkboard gets its AML data from LexisNexis due to its large reach with external databases such as Experian and Equifax.
• The importance of Land Registry checks and why it’s crucial to carry one out before solicitors get involved.

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.

“Sadly, property fraud is on the rise, and can be financially devastating in many cases,” Yazad said. “High-profile stories have emerged in the national press in recent times of people’s homes being sold without their knowledge, of people losing everything to scammers. What’s more, the tactics used are increasingly sophisticated and clever.”

He continued: “It falls upon all of the industry, including agents, to play their part in preventing property fraud from taking place. Agents, in particular, by knowing what to look for, and having the right protocols and procedures in place, can be that first line of defence for consumers, pointing out discrepancies where they arise and being on the lookout for anything that doesn’t feel, sound or look right.”

“Our webinar next week will be aiming to help educate agents, landlords, property professionals, investors and others regarding the role compliance, due diligence and verification have when it comes to limiting the chances of property fraud occurring. We have brought together a panel of experts to ensure the property industry remains one step ahead of the criminal gangs who seek to exploit and make people’s lives a misery.”

You can register for the free event by visiting the Eventbrite page here.