It is a fair question, and the people who ask it are usually the ones paying closest attention. You are being asked to prove your identity through an app and then move a very large sum of money, on a timetable you did not set, to people you have mostly met over email. Wanting to understand how that is protected before you do it is exactly the right instinct.
Why it feels risky
Most of us have learned to be cautious about anything that mixes money and the internet, and rightly so. Property then adds its own complications. The amounts are large. The dates are known well in advance, sometimes weeks ahead. And there is a constant stream of email between you, your agent, your broker, your lender and your conveyancer, which is a lot of noise for something to hide in.
So the feeling is reasonable. What is worth separating is the thing being worried about. Being online is not what determines whether your transaction is handled safely. How the provider runs it does.
What should be protecting you
Three things do most of the work in a well-run digital process, and they are worth knowing by name so you can check they are actually there.
The first is identity verification. Before anything moves, you prove who you are through a secure check. A good provider should explain how your identity is verified and what safeguards are used to protect that process.
The second is the way the money moves. Settlement funds are transferred electronically through the settlement process between the relevant parties and financial institutions, rather than relying on physical documents or cheques. What matters just as much is the process around the payment instructions themselves, which is the part covered below.
The third is the record. Digital systems can also create a clear record of documents, instructions and activity, making it easier to see what was agreed and when.
Those protections are meaningful, but none of them are automatic. They work because a provider implements them properly, which is why the rest of this page is about how to tell whether yours has.
The risk that is actually real
It is not the settlement platform. It is a scam where someone impersonates your conveyancer or your agent and sends you new bank details, hoping you will send your deposit or your settlement funds to them instead. It works because it arrives exactly when you are expecting to pay and are keen to get it done.
The habit that defeats it is simple, and it applies to any conveyancer, including us. Only ever pay to bank details that have been confirmed with you through a channel you already trust and verified independently, rather than acting on anything contained in the message itself. Treat any message telling you the account has changed as a red flag, however official it looks. If something feels rushed, stop and check. We have set out how these scams work in avoiding payment scams.
What a trustworthy conveyancer does about it
A conveyancer should make this easy to understand before you ever need to make a payment. They should explain how bank details are provided, warn you about impersonation scams, and make it straightforward to verify payment instructions if anything changes.
If they are vague about any of this, it is worth asking more questions before you proceed.
Questions worth asking
- How will you verify my identity, and what will I need to do?
- How does settlement actually happen, and does my money ever pass through your hands?
- How will you give me your bank details, and will they ever change?
- Who do I call if I get a message that does not look right?
Ask those four, listen to how readily they are answered, and you will have a much clearer sense of how carefully a provider works.
General information only, not legal advice. Your conveyancer will explain how the process works for your transaction.
