Mortgage advisers can provide valuable support when clients face a suspected scam, with aggregators helping them assess concerns, navigate difficult conversations and recognise when specialist intervention is needed.
When a client seeks to borrow money for a questionable investment or reveals they may have transferred funds to a scammer, the adviser’s next conversation can be crucial. But helping that client does not mean taking responsibility for investigating the scam or recovering their money.
For Ryan Edwards, Managing Director of The Adviser Platform (TAP), advisers have an important role in recognising concerns and connecting clients with appropriate support. Aggregators can help ensure they are equipped to do that.
“Everyone in the business should know what to look for and who to speak to if something seems suspicious. Aggregators and other industry organisations can also help by sharing new fraud trends and warning signs with advisers,” Edwards says.
The challenge is understanding the boundary between looking after a client’s interests and taking on a role that belongs to banks, police or specialist support services.
Start with the conversation
As with plenty of scams, a client may not approach their adviser believing they have encountered one – they might simply request additional borrowing, explain an investment opportunity or ask how quickly they can access available funds.
And in this situation, Edwards identifies urgency, unclear explanations and changes in behaviour as reasons to explore what is happening.
“These things don't always mean there's a scam, but they're a good reason to ask a few more questions,” he says.
Geoff Christopher, Mortgage Adviser at Float Mortgages, also highlights vague or shifting explanations, unusual secrecy and answers that sound rehearsed. The purpose of asking questions is to understand the client’s situation and identify concerns requiring further support.
An adviser who knows the client may be well placed to notice when a request seems out of character. Keeping that conversation calm and open gives the client an opportunity to explain without feeling accused.
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Preserve trust, particularly when clients feel exposed
Someone who suspects they have been deceived may feel embarrassed, defensive or reluctant to share details, so how the adviser responds can influence whether they remain engaged.
Edwards recommends presenting questions as part of the normal advice process.
“Make it about the process, not the person. You don't want clients to feel they've done anything wrong. You're simply doing your job and looking out for them, and sometimes one extra question could save someone from a costly mistake,” he says.
Christopher similarly recommends private conversations, open questions and reassurance about privacy obligations.
The adviser can acknowledge the client’s concern, explain why a request warrants further checking and outline the next step, but – they do not need to deliver a definitive verdict on whether a scam has occurred to help the client seek assistance.
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Use aggregator support before making the call alone
An uncertain situation can become particularly difficult when a client wants immediate action. So an established escalation pathway gives the adviser somewhere to test concerns and seek guidance.
Christopher describes how Float approaches that handover internally and across its support network.
“We flag it with our aggregator and seek their advice, notify internally to management, and also raise it with the relevant banking/provider partners where relevant.”
“When in doubt, escalate. That principle applies to pretty much anything in this space.”
For advice businesses, the practical question is whether staff know how to access that support before a case becomes urgent. Aggregator guidance can help advisers work through concerns, identify the appropriate lender contacts and decide what information needs recording.
It also means a sensitive decision does not rest solely with the person managing the client relationship.
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Client choice does not require adviser participation
A client may reject the warning or insist the transaction is legitimate, but respecting their ability to make decisions does not mean an adviser must facilitate borrowing while serious concerns remain unresolved.
“An adviser's job is to give good advice and look after the client's interests. If something doesn't look right, we need to ask questions. And if serious concerns haven't been resolved, advisers shouldn't feel pressured to keep going just because the client wants to,” Edwards says.
Christopher makes a similar distinction.
“Our job is to ask the right questions, flag concerns clearly, and decline to facilitate anything we reasonably believe is fraudulent.
“It isn't turning advisers into investigators, or overriding a competent adult's decision to proceed.”
And it’s that boundary which allows advisers to explain the risks, seek support and make a decision about their own involvement without assuming control over the client’s wider affairs.
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Know when the next step belongs elsewhere
Where a payment may be imminent or money has already left an account, Christopher encourages clients to contact their bank straight away.
He identifies police as a channel for criminal matters, the National Cyber Security Centre for cyber-related scams, and Netsafe or IDCARE as potential sources of further support.
The adviser’s contribution is helping the client reach the appropriate organisation, while recognising the limits of their visibility and authority.
“Banks have the transaction data, the ability to pause or reverse a payment, and far more visibility across a client's full financial picture than we ever will.”
For advisers, that makes a clear handover more useful than attempting to investigate independently.
Make support a repeatable process
Advice businesses need processes covering sensitive conversations, internal escalation, external contacts and records of the action taken, and regular training and aggregator updates can help keep those processes relevant.
“Good record keeping matters. You need to be able to show what you've checked and what action you've taken. The important thing is not to ignore something suspicious,” Edwards says.
The aim is a supported response – listen, raise concerns, involve the right people and recognise when specialist help is needed.
“You don't need to be a fraud expert to have these conversations. It's about helping clients recognise when something doesn't seem right and pointing them towards the right support if they need it,” Edwards says.
