The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has issued a warning after hoax emails were sent to members of the public claiming to be from Norton Rose Fulbright.

The emails claimed to relate to an inheritance or other payment following a supposed air crash involving a family member and came from "barrister Tim Ingham" at "Norton Rose Fulbright Law Firm".

The email came from "[email protected]", with recipients asked to make contact to provide information that would release the supposed inheritance.

Timothy Ingham is a litigation and dispute resolution consultant based in Norton Rose's London office, but he is not a barrister. He joined the firm in 2014 from CMS where he was a partner for more than 16 years, leading the firm's Asia insurance practice between 1997 and 2007.

Both Ingham and the firm have confirmed to the SRA that they have no connection to the emails and the firm has posted a warning about the emails on its website.

In a statement, a Norton Rose spokesperson said: "We are aware that emails are in circulation purporting to come from an individual who works at Norton Rose Fulbright. These emails are bogus and have no connection with us. We have notified the SRA accordingly. We of course regret that our name is being used in an attempt to defraud members of the public."

Hoax communications purporting to be from major law firms are relatively rare, although in February, the SRA issued a similar warning after emails were sent to members of the public claiming for be from "Austin Barham" of "Clyde & Co LLP".

The subject of the emails related to unclaimed financial investments held by a former client of the firm, who had a similar surname to the recipient of the email.

The recipient was asked to contact "Austin Barham" to release the assets, estimated at £6.8m. Austin Barham is a partner at Clydes specialising in claims arising from aviation accidents; however, neither the firm nor Barham had any connection to the emails.

The SRA has advised anyone receiving emails claiming to be from a law firm or named individuals to conduct their own due diligence by contacting the firm in question.