In a recent court case, Hawarden vs. Edward Nathan Sonnenbergs, Inc., the law firm was found liable after their client paid money into a fraudulent account.
Judith Hawarden purchased a property through Pam Golding who appointed ENS as their conveyancing firm. Judith Hawarden received an email from a conveyancing secretary at ENS stating what is still needed for the property sale to go through, after which she contacted ENS and they sent her their banking details, which were confirmed by First National Bank.
Ms. Hawarden did not notice that the email containing the verified bank details was from ensafirca.com and not ensafrica.com. Fraudsters had intercepted the genuine email from ENS. The money was transferred out of the bank account, and the bank was unable to retrieve the stolen funds.
Johannesburg High Court Judge Phanuel Mudau has ruled that Edward Nathan Sonnenbergs (ENS) must pay Judith Hawarden R5.5 million, plus interest, because ENS had the duty to warn Ms. Hawarden of possible business email compromise as this is prevalent in the conveyancing industry. Ms. Hawarden’s legal team further argued that ENS should advise their clients to do bank account verifications before making a payment.
Veriseal’s Bank Account Verification Service (AVS) is a system that enables individuals and companies alike to easily verify the account details of any customer online safely, securely, and in real time. Veriseal’s verification service is the most cost-effective way to mitigate fraud and ensure you know to whom you are paying money.