As part of International Fraud Awareness Week, PEXA hosted a webinar series bringing together experts from regulatory bodies, law firms, insurance, technology providers and law enforcement to unpack how fraud is evolving – and what the industry can do to stay ahead.

Across our sessions, speakers shared first-hand perspectives on the real-world impact of payment diversion fraud, the rise of social engineering and deepfakes, the growing importance of strong digital identity standards, cultural resilience, and designing secure processes that protect every transaction.

Watch all the webinars on-demand, here.

Conveyancing remains a prime target for organised fraud. Between April 2024 and May 2025, there were 143 reported cases and £11.7m in losses* – often devastating for households.

What’s really happening, and why it matters

Regulators and police agree: early, accurate reporting of threats helps disrupt fake accounts and improve fund-recovery chances. With around 40,000 fraud and cyber reports a month* – 40% of all UK crime – every data point counts.

A strong security culture – from phishing simulations to secure communication channels – turns ‘policy on paper’ into protection in practice.

Practitioners also reminded us that clients are trusting, teams are busy, and attack surfaces are wide. That’s why simple, consistent habits such as verified call-backs, cooling-off periods, two-person approvals, and secure digital channels are so effective.

Session highlights

Regulation in Practice: Tackling Cybercrime

From the policing, regulatory and insurance perspectives, losses still centre on payment diversion fraud and impersonation, with early signals of deepfake-enabled social engineering emerging.

Practical defences include vigilance, client education, and strengthening controls at completion (agreeing payment details upfront, avoiding high risk channels, and requiring dual authorisation). Detective Sergeant Robert Mellor, City of London Police, captured it perfectly:

“The principle behind this for the criminal is, why should I try and break down the door with a hack, or to try and compromise an IT system, when I can persuade someone to give me the keys.”

Reusable and shareable data is key to reducing fraud

We heard how Digital ID checks that are aligned to the Digital Identity Trust and Attributes framework along with open-banking-based Source of Funds checks help strengthen the start of the transaction, while consent-based sharing and smart-data approaches support the right parties access the right data at the right time.

Collaboration across the ecosystem (OPDA, coalitions, pilot activity and proof-of-concepts) is accelerating this shift. Standards, codes of practice and, where needed, enabling legislation remain essential to create secure data frameworks.

Robust process and tools are vital to securing the property transaction

Across all sessions, three themes recurred:

People. Regular, realistic training can empower teams, making people and culture vital to fraud defence.

Process. Clear role-based controls, dual approvals and cool-down periods, with fewer email handoffs at critical steps.

Technology. Moving high-risk steps onto secure rails with auditable Digital ID and Source of Funds at onboarding.

Using consistent Digital ID and Source of Funds processes, combined with secure digital completions to reduce manual touchpoints can build insurer confidence. Together, these close the gap between policy and practice and help firms reduce exposure and risk.

Practical actions you can take now

• Tighten the “last mile”. Enforce verified call-backs for any change to payee details and introduce short cool-down windows and escalation procedures before releasing funds after late changes.
• Empower your people. Move from annual training to regular, realistic fraud and phishing simulations, and encourage teams to pause when something feels off.
• Strengthen the front end. Use approved Digital ID suppliers that comply with the UK digital identity and attributes trust framework and Source of Funds checks using secure open banking methods, reducing duplication and strengthening assurance from day one.
• Evidence controls for insurers. Implement dual authorisation, segregation of duties and fixed audit trails, to prove controls operate in practice and strengthen your position at renewal.
• Collaborate on data standards. Nominate a data owner, use vendors aligned to OPDA/PDTF principles and join current pilots and updates, which prepares your firm for interoperable workflows and reduces duplicate checks.

Catch up with the PEXA Fraud Awareness Week Webinars

Watch all the webinars on-demand, here.