The Law Society Trust Account Department has seen a significant escalation in scammers calling, emailing or messaging lawyers and pretending to be from their bank. Their goal is to steal money from the law practice’s Office and Trust Accounts.

These scammers may claim to be from the bank’s fraud department and represent that they are investigating a compromised account or suspicious transaction. The scammers use technology to make it appear as if the call is coming from the bank’s phone number. The scammers may also send a message that looks like it came from the same conversation thread as genuine bank messages. This scam is a type of impersonation scam.

How to spot the scam

You may get a call, text message or email from a scammer claiming to be from the bank (investigating a hacked account, suspicious transaction or online banking outage etc). The scammer may tell you there is a problem with your account and ask:

• For personal information (like online banking passwords) or
• For financial information (like account numbers) or
• To transfer funds to a safe account whilst the investigating is underway or
• The one-time phone security code (or PINs or tokens).

What you can do to stay protected

Your bank will never ask you over the phone for online banking passwords, one-time security codes, PINs or tokens. If this happens to you, there are steps you can take to protect yourself.

Stop

• Do not rely on the phone numbers in a text message or email;
• Don’t give information like passwords, financial information, bank numbers, security codes, PINS, tokens etc to anyone over the phone, text or email;
• Don’t click on any links in text messages or emails, if you’re unsure;
• Hang up if you receive a call from someone claiming to be from the bank requesting you to transfer money

Check

• Verify who you are talking to and ask for a reference number.
• Contact your bank separately using your banking app or a phone number you have sourced from your banking app, bank website, bank statement or bank card.

Protect

• Act quickly if you have transferred funds and/or provided access to your account or information to a scammer.
• Immediately contact your bank to report the cyber incident, then contact LawCover (1800 Breach or [email protected]) and the Law Society Trust Account Department ([email protected]).

If you’ve been affected

There is no shame in getting scammed - it can happen to anybody. The Law Society’s Solicitor Outreach Service (SOS) is a dedicated and confidential psychological support service for solicitors who may be experiencing emotional difficulties and stress (1800 592 296). For further information see lawsociety.com.au/sos.

For further information, please contact Sharon Blake, Chief Trust Account Investigator on (02) 9926 0336 or [email protected].