Scammers Target Mid-Market as Four Firms Impersonated in One Week
A fresh wave of email scams targeting clients of law firms follows several attacks earlier this year.
September 17, 2019 at 04:17 AM
2 minute read
Four more U.K. law firms have been impersonated in fake emails in the past week, as the most recent wave of scam emails batters the mid-market.
Top 50 U.K. firms Shoosmiths, Mills & Reeve and RPC, and top 100 firm Howard Kennedy, have all been impersonated in email scams since last Tuesday (September 10), according to notices filed on the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) website.
The attacks follow a stream of email scams to have hit major U.K. firms in recent months, including Linklaters, which was hit by scam attacks on three separate occasions, and Clifford Chance, whose U.K. managing partner Michael Bates was impersonated by scammers.
A Northampton-based Shoosmiths conveyancing manager had been impersonated to one of the firm's clients, whose computer may have been compromised, according to the SRA. Emails were subsequently sent between the client and an unknown third party at the fraudulent email address, one of which provided alternative bank account details.
Mills & Reeve, meanwhile, was impersonated in emails relating to helping with the incorporation of a company in the U.K., which asked for bank details and requested a payment of £7,560 to an account that appears to be based in the U.S.
Emails claiming to be from an RPC insurance partner, which related to an "abandoned investment" made by a deceased individual, were also flagged as fake by the SRA.
An email impersonating a Howard Kennedy lawyer informed the recipient that the firm's bank account "is on hold" and that payment should be remitted into an alternative account, alongside an email attachment that uses an old logo for Howard Kennedy and provides details for a new bank account.
All firms confirmed to the SRA that neither they nor the solicitors being impersonated have any connection to the fraudulent email addresses referred to in the alerts.
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View All‘Are You Not Profiting From Postmasters’ Misery?’—Politicians Grill HSF, Dentons on Post Office Conduct
'Not a Good Look'—FCA Fines Barclays £40M But Accused of Incompetence
Gibson Dunn Sued by Crypto Client After Lateral Hire Causes Conflict of Interest
Australian Corporations More Concerned About Class Actions Risk, HSF Report Finds
3 minute readTrending Stories
- 1Mayer Brown’s Hong Kong Split to Take Effect
- 2Simpson Thacher Launches in Luxembourg With Hires From A&O Shearman, Clifford Chance
- 3How Cybercriminals Exploit Law Firms’ Holiday Vulnerabilities
- 4Big Firms May See 'Uncomfortable Flashbacks' as Cost Pressure Grows
- 5Decision of the Day: Judge Explains Ruling to Partially Sequester, Grant Anonymity to Jurors in MS-13 Murder Case
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250