Thanks John well caught. By the way how is the mill going along.

David

Really scary, and the main reason I'm careful not to leak information on the web. Well informed scams are far more likely to work than the easy to spot impersonal emails most of us get. In this case, a business has leaked information, and John's comment 'Our lawyer who conducted the final settlement told us that many lawyers and other businesses that handle cash had also been hacked in a similar way' is cause for concern. It implies IT security isn't being taken seriously on a large scale!

It may be because Australia's Privacy Laws are relaxed compared with GPDR. In particular small businesses aren't held responsible for leaks in the same way as big business. In the UK, a hacked lawyer would expect a heavy fine, a difficult conversation with the Law Society, and a customer seeking damages. The system is imperfect here too, but it can come down hard on negligence. Sounds as if UK law also puts more onus on banks to refund money to defrauded consumers. Simply put, business here should not be conducted in ways that put the customer at risk: businesses are responsible. Agreed there are many imperfections!

If I were an Australian, I'd check out the current rules and complain to my MP if I thought they were inadequate. The usual reason for exempting small businesses from tough requirements is they lobbied saying it would cost them too much money to come up to standard. However, if lots of lawyers are being hacked, perhaps the consumer needs to assert himself. Probably needs a campaign to get things changed, politicians tend to listen to the loudest voices or the biggest donors.

Dave

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The margin line is there because you are adding your text within the post[s] that you are quoting.

MichaelG.

Coming down the line to you all soon.

A telephone call from a 'government' loft insulation survey inspector.

My old friend in Bracknell gave them £4800 to spray the underside of his roof with , hopefully , fire retardant foam.

I have had the telephone call , they had a polite two word answer.

Well spotted indeed – but this looks like a variant of a scam reported in UK a year or two back, where the scammers masqueraded as the buyer's solicitor and emailed the buyer a new bank account number for the transfer of funds. I think the scammers managed to get most or all of the purchase price, and I still don't know whether they were caught or whether the buyer got compensation, as they initiated the transaction.

For that reason, when we bought our current house about 6 months back, I verified the account details with our solicitor by phone call at the start of proceedings, and made sure I recognised the voice! Any apparent change would've triggered instant alrm.

Edited By Mick B1 on 13/11/2021 20:34:00

I just click with the mouse button below the quote line and type as normal even after deleting what is not needed in the quoted section. As you can see where I have deleted part of your last post in the quote

Sort codes and bank account details can be entered online and checked for validity.

as an example – i recently had some roof work done (costing an arm and a leg.), the roofer wrote down the details for me rather than in an email, i went online and put the details in – the roofer is based in Worksop, the bank account details also came back to Worksop.

there is a simple solution to this type of scam is to send a small amount (say £10) then ask trhe recipient what amount they have received, before sending the rest.