Max and Davinder Deluca received an email one Friday in July announcing that the sale of their home had been completed successfully and that the funds would shortly be transferred to their account.

That email came not from their solicitor, as it seemed at the time, but from a fraudster. Only the following week did it become apparent that the solicitor, too, had been tricked.

By intercepting emails between the couple and their lawyers, Powell & Co of Sutton Coldfield, the fraudster managed to generate fake emails posing as both parties.

They reassured the Delucas that the transaction was successful, by posing as Powell & Co. Then, it seems, they tricked Powell & Co into transferring the £98,000 proceeds to an account in their control.

Over a week later, on questioning Powell & Co, the Delucas discovered the payment had been made to an RBS account, rather than to the correct Barclays account.