A WYE Valley couple are trying to recover £22,000 after a deposit on a house was stolen by scammers.

There has been a warning that e-mails with solicitors may not be secure and details in them such as bank account numbers and telephone numbers should not be trusted.

The couple have been victim of a so-called ‘man in the middle attack’ where e-mails are intercepted and fraudsters insert their own details before forwarding it to the unwitting victim.

They visited their solicitor and were told that the bank account details – for the deposit on a house in Bristol – would be e-mailed later that day.

An hour after arriving home an e-mail arrived which appeared to be identical to others received from the solicitor and even mentioned the visit to the office earlier in the day so the £22,000 was transferred.

The next day they received another, unexpected, e-mail requesting the full amount, but alarm bells rang because the solicitor’s name was misspelt and the English was poor – but they also noticed that the bank account number was the same on both e-mails.

They went to the solicitor’s office where they discovered the account details were false and they had been robbed of £22,000.

Former IT teacher and consultant John French highlighted the case in the latest edition of the St Briavels, Hewelsfield and Brockweir Village News.

He said: “They were prey to a sophisticated scam that has been hitting house sales transactions between clients and solicitors all over the UK for nearly a year.

“The criminals hack the victim’s or solicitor e-mail. They monitor the inbox for correspondence that contains bank transfer details relating to house sales.

“When their system alerts them to such an e-mail, they intercept it altering only the bank codes and forward it on. This is why it looks so authentic.

“It makes no difference whether you have a Mac or a Windows computer with the best virus protection in the world.

“Never transfer money to a bank account where details have been sent in an e-mail without first ringing the person or company to verify – and obviously don’t ring any phone numbers contained in the e-mail.”