The Law Society of Ireland have advised that they are aware of a number of Irish solicitor firms that have been the target of spear-phishing scams. We want to highlight how such scams may arise given the seriousness of the consequences if such scams are successful. Spear-phishing involves a fraudster sending an email purporting to be from someone else seeking to obtain bank account details and other personal information. Law firms are particular targets for such scams due to the potential significant amount of funds involved in conveyancing transactions. Often such conveyances will complete on a Friday and fraudsters will seek to target such transactions on such completion days, hence the name given to such frauds.
Typically, a fraudster will send an email purporting to be from the law firm to a client informing them that the firm’s bank account details have changed and requesting that monies be transferred to the new bank account which is actually the account of the fraudster. The fraudster may have intercepted the emails between the firm and client and consequently, they may be able to generate an email referencing details of the transaction in a very convincing fashion. Any correspondence informing you that a bank account has changed mid-transaction should raise suspicion and such change should be verified in person or over the phone with someone you know at the relevant solicitor’s firm to avoid falling victim to such a scam. You should always verify bank account details in person or over the phone with someone at the relevant solicitor’s office before transferring monies.
Tom Collins & Company Solicitors have had the same bank account for many years with Bank of Ireland and we are have no plans to change such account. We are not aware of any instances in which our clients have been the target of such spear-phishing scams, however, it is important that we all remain vigilant for such scams as this is clearly an area that fraudsters are increasingly targeting.