Worrying e-mail fraud warning

WotNoDeeds · Post by **WotNoDeeds** » Mon 02 May 2016 2:20 pm

North Cyprus News reports that a Girne solicitor has warned clients to be on their guard because of
a scam where fraudsters have sent fraudulent e-mails purporting to come from a solicitor and thus
illegally diverted funds. Where a house sale is involved, this could mean a considerable amount of
money could be lost and virtually impossible to retrieve and could put the seller in an impossible
situation. Does anyone know anymore about this case? Can anyone advise, from experience, the safest
way of transferring money into a TRNC bank or has anyone successfully completed a house sale and
had the money deposited directly into a UK bank?

Keithcaley · Post by **Keithcaley** » Mon 02 May 2016 2:45 pm

Details here and here

Don't trust emails, ring and speak to the person and confirm their bank details.

Maisiemoo · Post by **Maisiemoo** » Mon 02 May 2016 7:49 pm

I think we dealt with the lawyer in this case, albeit 12 years ago. I remember phoning for the bank details and the money was transferred into their bank account in the UK and then dealt with the transfer to TRNC themselves. Nowadays so much business is done over the Internet and we may forget that there are scammers out there, always get the details from the 'horses mouth', so to speak.

WotNoDeeds · Post by **WotNoDeeds** » Tue 03 May 2016 6:53 am

Thanks for the info Maisiemoo. Is it common knowledge who this lawyer is? I was interested to learn the lawyer in question who you used has a bank account in the UK. I wonder if most TRNC lawyers have bank accounts in the UK?

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WotNoDeeds · Post by **WotNoDeeds** » Tue 03 May 2016 8:40 am

Thanks Keith, only just read your "here" and "here".

WotNoDeeds · Post by **WotNoDeeds** » Tue 03 May 2016 9:06 am

It appears that though this scam was only recently reported on "North Cyprus News", it did, in fact, occur many months ago when we were not in the TRNC. What an appalling situation Michelle and her family have been left in and it appears that she has not been the only victim. Michelle says of her lawyer "she has no cares for our situation" and the other victim's lawyers "shrug it off". If this is the case, then surely both lawyers should be named if they haven't been already and prospective clients can choose to go to them or take their business elsewhere.