OBLIC has learned of two new “twists” on internet scams for lawyers.
- Lawyer was involved with closing a legitimate transaction. The day before the closing, lawyer received an email from the legitimate party’s email address, changing the instructions for wiring the money to a Malaysian bank. It appears the legitimate party’s email was hacked.
Good loss prevention indicates that wiring instructions should be changed only with additional confirmation of the request. The follow up should be via phone call to a known legitimate number or to another known email address. It was only learned later that the legitimate party’s email was hacked, so verifying through the hacked email would not work!
- 2. The second scam involved debtors after discharge in bankruptcy. The scammer would contact the debtor using PACER contact information and act as someone from the lawyer’s office. The scammer would represent that they had settled a debt to avoid the bankruptcy being revoked and that the client had to pay immediately or all the debt would be owed again.
For loss prevention, be aware of this scam if you handle bankruptcy and warn your clients about it in your post-discharge.
Ongoing scams are ever-evolving for lawyers and their clients. If you have ANY questions about potential scams, please contact Gretchen Mote, OBLIC Director of Loss Prevention at [email protected] or 614-572-0620.