Login
Legal professionals put on alert after latest scam attempt
Legal professionals are being warned to be vigilant with cyber criminals targeting law firms as part of the latest beneficiary scam.
Emma Musgrave
The new call comes after reports that Western Australian Attorney-General John Quigley’s identity was stolen by scammers and used in multiple emails purporting to be him. The emails claimed the A-G to be representing a deceased person who left US$4.3 million in a bank account and no will. The email phished for personal information from the recipients.
WA ScamNet was quick to shut down the site, determining that the criminals replicated website copy of a NSW-based law firm.
Commissioner for Consumer Protection Lanie Chopping said, “it is common for scammers to steal the identity of prominent people and celebrities to fool their targets into believing that their fake proposal is legitimate”.
“Beneficiary scams are fairly common and the scammer normally masquerades as a lawyer, so in this case they want to add some authenticity to the con by stealing the identity of a prominent lawyer, in this case WA’s attorney-general,” Ms Chopping said.
“If people respond, what usually follows are requests for your personal information, such as copies of passport and drivers licence, and continual requests for payment for legal fees or taxes in order to be able to access the funds.
“Scammers will go to great lengths to convince their victims that a fortune awaits if instructions are followed. They may even send a large number of seemingly legitimate legal documents to sign, such as power of attorney documents. A second or even third scammer may be introduced – posing as a banker, lawyer or tax agent – to ‘help facilitate the legal and financial aspects of the transaction’.
“Even if payments are made, the recipient won’t receive the sum of ‘inheritance’ money promised, and they won’t get their money back. They may also leave themselves open to identity theft.”
Ms Chopping’s top tips for protecting yourself and your business from beneficiary scams are as follows:
1. Never respond to unsolicited emails claiming to be able to obtain you money through some sort of inheritance or beneficiary scam.
2. Never send money or give credit card, online account details or copies of personal documents to anyone you don’t know or trust.
3. Avoid any arrangement with a stranger that asks for upfront payment via money order, wire transfer, international funds transfer, pre-loaded card or electronic currency, like bitcoin. It is rare to recover money sent this way.
4. Seek advice from an independent professional such as a lawyer, accountant or financial planner if in doubt.
5. Do an internet search using the names, contact details or exact wording of the letter/email to check for any references to a scam – many scams can be identified this way.
“If you think it’s a scam, don't respond – scammers will use a personal touch to play on your emotions to get what they want. Remember there are no get-rich-quick schemes: if it sounds too good to be true it probably is,” Ms Chopping concluded.
The latest scam targeting prominent legal professionals and law firms comes after Relativity’s APAC managing director, Georgia Foster, warned that “increased security” has to be at the forefront of moving to the cloud and ensuring adequate protection is instilled against cyber criminals.
“There’s been a huge increase in malicious cyber attacks within Australia and the Australian market,” she explained.
“…We are trying to deliver on a vision of cloud native here with RelativityOne, and that’s ultimately what we’re trying to move towards.
“There’s going to be some inspiring change and education as to what that shift from server to cloud looks like, but we certainly are starting to see a much larger appetite for it.
“...When it comes to the education piece, Amanda [Fennell, Relativity’s chief security officer] and I are working to run a series of education seminars for the Australian customers and prospects who want to upskill themselves in terms of what moving to the cloud means to them, and what is the potential risk of not doing that?
“We have obviously seen examples around the world of delaying that decision making process and having it impact businesses. And I think it’s important not only for us to be able to be the thought leaders here and harnessing our US colleagues to do that as well. They really are the forefront.”
Emma Musgrave
Emma Musgrave (née Ryan) is the managing editor, professional services at Momentum Media.
Emma has worked for Momentum Media since 2015, including five years spent as the editor of the company's legal brand - Lawyers Weekly. Throughout her time at Momentum, she has been responsible for breaking some of the biggest stories in corporate Australia. In addition, she has produced exclusive multimedia and event content related to the company's respective brands and audiences.
Prior to joining Momentum Media, Emma worked in breakfast radio, delivering news to the Central West region of NSW, before taking on a radio journalist role at Southern Cross Austereo, based in Townsville, North Queensland.
She holds a Bachelor of Communications (Journalism) degree from Charles Sturt University.
Email Emma on:
