New anti-fraud measures are being introduced this week for licensed conveyancers to help consumers avoid being scammed.

From Wednesday, licensed conveyancers must display a  badge on their website to help consumers identify regulated firms with secure websites. But over a third have yet to do so.

It has been introduced by the sector regulator, the Council for Licensed Conveyancers, which is now urging other legal regulators to follow suit.

Anyone wanting to be a licensed conveyancer, rather than just a solicitor who does conveyancing, needs to be approved by the CLC and follow its rules, so the badge aims to eliminate fraudsters by letting consumers identify genuine firms.

The badge, an example of which is below,  is installed through a unique piece of web code provided by the CLC that it says is impossible for fraudsters to copy. Consumers can also click on the badge to see information about the regulated firm on the CLC’s website.

Consumers will be informed about looking out for the badge through the CLC website and in an awareness campaign run by Legal Choices, a joint website of all the legal regulators.

The CLC said conveyancers have increasingly become the subject of fraudulent schemes which have left home buyers at risk and out of pocket.

The number of deposit redirection frauds in March 2016 was more than triple those in March 2015, according to statistics from the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau, and this number is continuing to rise, the CLC warned.

Stephen Ward, director of strategy for CLC, said: “Almost two-thirds of licensed conveyancers have already installed the secure badge on their websites,

“We have been extremely pleased to see that the majority of our firms have taken action to install the badge. To those who are yet to do so, we would urge them to do this as soon as possible to ensure they remain compliant.

“The scheme has been very well received by consumers, providing them with confidence that the website they are visiting is secure and is regulated by the CLC.”