The Law Society Warns Firms to Be Cautious of Phishing Emails

Lawgazette.co.uk reported on 19th March, 2014 stating that solicitors received scam 'Trojan horse' emails purporting to come from the 'Law Society' following which it has alerted firms to be cautious while opening emails impersonating it.

Notably, The Law Society is the professional association representing the governs of the profession of solicitor in England and Wales.

The Law Society said that e-mails have been sent from several e-mail addresses including fraudulent addresses using @lawsociety.org.uk domain. The emails are sent with an attachment of a word document entitled "Notification regarding a fraudulent activity involving (recipient name)".

Lawgazette.co.uk published news on 19th March, 2014 quoting a comment of the Spokesperson of Law Society on the unfortunate phishing email scam as "The illicit emails are being investigated by the Law Society with the help of apt technical and law enforcement organizations including National Crime Agency and The Law Society have not been compromised as the emails are originating from a third party."

These emails are not legitimate and should not be opened, forwarded or downloaded and should be deleted. The Law Society suggested that email recipients who opened the email already must contact their IT provider immediately for support and must alert the Action Fraud Police Service as well.

The scam was similar to attack on firms with emails purporting to come from Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) which is another regulatory body for solicitors in England and Wales.

The Law Society highlights a range of tips to avoid such phishing and said that there are basic steps which can be taken to ensure the safety of emails coming from the Society.

They include: Firstly, always treat emails cautiously which are coming with links or attachments. Secondly, open only those attachments which come from trusted sources and in case of any doubt get it verified by the email sender. Also, be vigilant of any links that come from unknown email address as the link displayed may not be the original site's address. You can flaunt the original address of a website by simply hovering over the link and lastly, always ensure that anti-virus software of your organization is updated.

» SPAMfighter News - 3/28/2014