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Although I understand why some are suggesting that title deeds are "rematerialized" or key "pieces of paper" signifying genuine entitlement are issued, I fear that it is now so easy for documents to be cloned etc that this will not be the solution and could add even more to the problem in fact.
A Form LL Restriction may help encourage vendor's conveyancers to focus a bit more on the identity of their client but this is only a small weapon and without official guidance for vendor's conveyancers about the necessary checks they should consider, this has the potential to mess up the conveyancing process even more.
Yes sign up to the Land Registry alerts - but even that cannot be totally relied upon - what if your address is changed fraudulently on the register -even though it may be more difficult for this to happen without you knowing...
So as ever it is not going to be simple and will become increasing complicated as the criminals become more and more sophisticated in their methods.
Being naturally suspicious and not too credulous always helps of course and some of the cases you hear do make you wonder about how naïve some people can be (not this case, however!).
Sadly, tailored insurance cover for each transaction may be the only way (and could be an additional disbursement a buyer must pay for)...so as usual we all end up paying for these crimes. Any insurance should require however a series of checks and balances and not allow conveyancers just to be able to rely on insurance and not do anything else, because all that will do is facilitate crime even more.

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