PEXA Settlement Scams Index: Under 1% Spot a Fake Email

The short answer: PEXA’s 2026 Settlement Scams Index found that less than 1% of Australians surveyed could spot both problems in a fake conveyancer email asking for settlement funds. Settlement suits scammers because a large sum moves once, under deadline pressure. Conveyancers, agents and brokers should verify the receiving account rather than rely on buyers spotting a fake.

Key takeaways

• PEXA surveyed 1,028 Australian property buyers and intending buyers.
• PEXA has a commercial interest in settlement, so read the findings with that in mind.
• Businesses that handle settlement details carry their own exposure.
• For the fundamentals, see our guide to payment redirection fraud.

Imagine you are a few days from settlement on a home. An email arrives that looks like it is from your conveyancer. It asks you to send funds to a bank account. It uses urgent language, and the sender’s address is one letter off. What do you do?

PEXA put that scenario to more than a thousand Australians for its 2026 Settlement Scams Index, and the results were poor. Less than 1% could spot both of the problems in the email. (PEXA)

A note on the source. PEXA runs a property settlement platform and has a commercial interest in this topic. The report was produced with Nature Research, published in August 2026, and the survey fieldwork was done in July. We have used its own figures and reported them as it does.

What did the PEXA study find?

PEXA surveyed 1,028 Australian property buyers and intending buyers, weighted to be nationally representative. Of those, 500 had bought in the last 12 months and 528 intended to buy in the next 12 months.

Participants were shown a simulated scam email. The two real markers were the urgency of the request and a false letter “a” in the email address.

• More than a third of buyers would transfer funds after receiving the email (PEXA’s headline figure is 38%).
• Four in ten failed to identify any scam markers, even after being told the email was fraudulent.
• Nearly half said they could see no issues at all.
• Less than 1% spotted both markers.

Confidence is also falling. Overall confidence in identifying a scam dropped from 51% in 2025 to 41% in 2026. And awareness is not the problem. 91% of respondents are aware of at least one scam type, unchanged from last year.

On verification, the numbers are more reassuring and still leave a gap. Among recent buyers, 54% called their conveyancer or agent on a known number, and 33% used a secure app or tool such as PEXA Key, PEXA’s own product. Only 2% did not verify the bank account details they were given at all.

Why is settlement a favourite target?

Settlement is where the attack lines up with the money. A buyer is moving a very large sum, usually once, under deadline pressure, with several parties involved. PEXA says almost nine in ten Australians consider buying a property one of life’s most stressful events. A criminal who has read the email thread knows exactly when a payment is due, and sends the fake bank details at that moment.

The Australian Federal Police’s October update on business email compromise included a case with the same shape. A man in Victoria received an email from someone posing as his conveyancer and transferred a $45,000 deposit. He found out it was a scam only when he phoned his conveyancer. (AFP)

Before your next payment run, try our free BSB validator. It takes a few minutes and shows where your process is exposed.

Related reading: AUSTRAC Tranche 2: Verify the Client and the Bank Account, Fake AUSTRAC Officials Are Targeting Real Estate Agencies.

What does it mean for businesses in the chain?

Most of the PEXA survey looks at buyers. The businesses around them carry their own exposure. Conveyancers, solicitors, real estate agents and brokers send and receive settlement details every week. Since 1 July 2026, several of those professions have been inside AUSTRAC’s anti-money laundering regime, which we covered in our Tranche 2 post.

Training a buyer to spot a one-letter email difference is useful, and the survey shows how hard it is. The better control is one that does not rely on the buyer’s eyes at all.

• Collect bank details through a secure channel, not by email.
• Verify that the account belongs to the business or person it is supposed to, before funds are sent.
• Treat any change to bank details close to settlement as a red flag, and re-verify it.
• Keep a record of what was verified and when.

Bank account ownership verification answers the question the email cannot. Does the account named in this message belong to the party we think we are paying? The answer comes from checking the account against the entity, not from how convincing the message looks.

The study shows that awareness alone does not stop people sending money to the wrong place. A check that sits between the instruction and the payment does.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the PEXA Settlement Scams Index?

It is a 2026 PEXA survey of 1,028 Australian property buyers and intending buyers that tested whether they could spot a fake settlement email.

How many buyers spotted the fake settlement email?

Less than 1% of respondents could spot both problems in the test email.

How can conveyancers reduce settlement fraud?

Confirm bank details through a trusted channel and verify that the receiving account belongs to the right party before funds move.