Three directors of a law firm have been rebuked and penalised after their firm was tricked into paying the proceeds of a property sale into a fraudulent bank account.

The solicitors accepted they could have done more to prevent the fraud.

The property, which sold for £140,000, was part of a probate instruction.

Michael Ashton, Paul Grimwood and David Roberts are directors of Hull firm Sandersons Solicitors which was instructed on the case in 2014. Both Roberts and Grimwood have responsibilities for compliance.

The firm dealt with the matter by email, and in October 2014 was sent an email from the client giving bank details. Funds from the probate were successfully transferred using those details.

However, the following month the firm received another email, purportedly from the client, asking that money from the sale of the property be transferred to a bank account.

This gave different bank account details, and was in the name of an electrical company with no connection to the client.

The following day, the firm received further emails repeating the request and setting out the same bank details.

The emails appeared to come from the client’s email address.

The £140,000 was duly transferred, but Sandersons had not carried out checks in relation to the electrical company, and nor had it contacted the client by another form of communication to check its instructions.

A week later, the client contacted the firm about the money, at which point the fraud was uncovered.

The directors reported the matter to the police and their insurers, but not to the Solicitors Regulation Authority, as it should have done. However, the client reported the fraud to the SRA some months later.

Sandersons made a partial recovery of some of the funds, and fully accounted to the client for the money, an inquiry found.

The three solicitors admitted breaches of the SRA principles and rules, but said they did not make any personal financial gain.

They accepted rebukes plus fines of £500 each, and agreed to pay £337.50 each in costs.