Howard Weitzner, Attorney, Cutler Rader, Deerfield Beach, FL

With business and law firms eager to capitalize on new business opportunities, it's no surprise that internet schemes are constantly evolving as those behind them continue to prey on the unsuspecting. We all know the story of the foreign dignitary who needs your help to obtain the $47 million he is owed, and by responding to his email with your Social Security number, he will give you a percentage. However, new forms of cyber crime, including ransomware, hacking and phishing, are being developed and implemented every day. Therefore, it is important to remember that these perils remain ubiquitous and we must share our experiences in order to help others avoid falling victim to similar cons.

When your firm has a website, its overall goal is usually to attract prospective clients, provide information about your practice and hopefully entice that person to call your office and ultimately become a new client. Essentially, your website is a huge net and you're trying to catch that big fish. But what happens when that potential new client, that big fish, turns out to be a phishing scam instead?

Recently, that's exactly what happened at my firm. We received an email inquiry through our website's online portal, and the potential client was seeking representation to recover a deposit he had put down in a business deal gone bad. Through a series of email communications, the individual produced what appeared to be authentic documentation, including a quote, contract and copies of communications with the adverse company. We discussed the terms of our representation and, upon his request, provided him with a retainer contract, via email.

Within minutes of receiving the signed retainer contract, we received an email from the adverse, confessing to owing the disputed funds and attempting to make payment arrangements. Terms were agreed upon and, within days, the full settlement amount was tendered and delivered to our office. It was one of the easiest cases we've ever handled!

But as we all know, when something seems too good to be true, it usually is. The check was from a different company. It came with a bizarre letter with additional instructions attached, from an unfamiliar name. Further investigative work revealed that it was a fraudulent scheme. Luckily, we identified the scam before we deposited the money into our trust account and issued settlement checks. All that we lost was time, but it could have been far worse.

So, how can you avoid falling for a similar scheme—and what do you do if you have fallen victim to some unscrupulous individuals? The following are four key lessons learned from our recent situation.

Train your staff to think, look and listen. One of our astute paralegals was the one who became skeptical and uncovered the scam. She pointed out the check from an unknown company, looked it up online and found several fraud warnings associated with that outfit. We then called the company who issued the check, as well as the company who supposedly owed the debt. We discovered that the original company had been hacked and they had been getting similar calls all day about checks that had been issued to other firms.

Read emails slowly, carefully and discerningly. We live in a fast-paced world. Too often, we want to cut to the punchline or get to the point. Check the sender's email address. Is it from a true corporate account or some generic server? Is the person's name spelled differently? Is there a typographical error in the subject line or other suspicious errors within the body of the email? In our case, the "client" emailed us from two different accounts with similar names. Additionally, the email from the "adverse company" used the name of a real person at the company, but it was sent from an AOL account, not the company's corporate email. This helped us, and the company, uncover the hoax proving they had, in fact, been hacked.

Be wary of anything that does not feel right. For instance, if you cannot speak to the client in person or on the phone, and the only communication is by email, that may be a red flag for your business. If the matter is "resolved" within minutes of your being retained or, in other words, if someone is offering you free money for performing no work, something is wrong. Queries requiring urgent action, immediate attention or sensitive information should be viewed as highly suspect.

Alert the authorities. Finally, if you happen to have been hacked, phished, schemed or scammed, contact the FBI. The Internet Crime Complaint Center offers an online form. Once you discover the attempt or attack, cease all contact with the other parties and turn it over to the authorities to ensure that this does not happen again.

Howard J. Weitzner is an attorney with Cutler Rader, a Deerfield Beach law firm with a focus on personal injury and commercial litigation. Contact him at [email protected].