Durban private investigator warns conveyancing attorneys of cyber scammers

PRIVATE investigator, Rick Crouch has issued a warning about cyber scammers to all conveyancing attorneys and their clients.

He said cyber scammers are targeting conveyancing attorneys because they know that there are large money transfers going back and forth.

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“Using a ‘spear fishing’ technique they target vulnerable employees of the law firm. Once their target has taken the bait they then have access to the firm’s computer system. The scammers then create a rule that forwards all emails with target keywords in the subject line, such as, invoice and statement.”

“Once they receive those emails, which usually contain the firm’s bank account information for the client to deposit the money, they create a new invoice with all the firm’s information but they change the banking details. They then send the email on to the client explaining that, for some reason or another, the banking information has changed and the client should use the banking information on ‘this invoice’,” explained Crouch.

The email address has either been “spoofed” so it will will look as though it came from the law firm.

In addition to the email rule mentioned above, Crouch said the scammers would have created a second rule that forwards them all email directed to the firms email address that they used, not only does this rule forward all those emails to the fraudster but it also deletes the original so it is never received by the firm.  The money transfer goes into the fraudster’s account and is never seen again.

“The banks will deny all liability in these cases even though the accounts are usually new accounts and suddenly a large amount is transferred into the account and almost immediately withdrawn, sometimes in cash. You have to ask how no alarm bells started ringing.”

The private investigator advised law firms to ensure that their anti-virus software is updated regularly and that their firewall is configured correctly.

The companies should have training sessions to educate your staff on the signs of a phishing email and how to prevent it, “do not put you company executives on your website. And for the clients, if you receive an emailed request to change banking information law firm call the  to verify the information. Do not call any number that appears on the email but use the number you have on file for that law firm,” said Crouch.

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