Scam Alert: LSBA Warns Members about New Phishing Scam The LSBA is continuing its mission to alert members about scams targeting lawyers and law firms. A vigilant LSBA member recently suspected a phishing attempt targeting Louisiana lawyers in a succession/inheritance scheme.The LSBA member reports he received a faxed letter from a purported Toronto, Canada, attorney indicating that he might be in line from a succession standpoint to receive a large inheritance from a distant relative. The attorney says he has seen many of these sorts of phishing attempts, but this time the letter looked fairly legitimate. The attorney checked online and found the author of the letter to be associated with what at first glance appeared to be a legitimate Toronto law firm website: http://www.robichaudlawllp.com/contact-us.html. But upon closer inspection, a few typographical errors and non-functioning hyperlinks seemed to confirm his suspicions. He continued researching online for variations of the law firm name and found another firm with a similar name, https://robichaudlaw.ca/contact-us/. He called Robichaud Criminal Defence Litigation in Toronto (the second of the two websites above) and the person who answered said they had received “50 calls this morning from Louisiana attorneys’ offices” about the letter. The person said that they believe it is a scam originating in Nigeria. Here are tips to protect yourself from falling victim to phishing and/or spoofing scams: • Don’t trust the display name. Check the email address in the “From” header — if it looks suspicious, it may not be legitimate. Even if an email has convincing branding and language, it does not mean that it is authentic. • Beware of urgent or threatening language. Invoking a sense of urgency or fear is a common spoofing tactic. If you receive a message asking for urgent financial assistance, you should pause and proceed with caution. • Call to confirm. If in doubt about an email that appears to be from a legitimate person, call or text the person yourself instead of replying to the message. Do this even if the message says the sender cannot be reached by phone for some reason. • Warn others. If you find the email is a hoax and comes from someone you know personally, immediately contact the original sender to let him or her know. Suggest that the sender send an email to this effect. • Do not respond. If you receive phishing email, do not respond. Responding to emails like this confirms your email account as an active one and can result in you getting more spam. • Do not accept facts as face value without more research and due diligence as to the people and matters involved. • Beware of clients you have never personally met or clients who need immediate transfer of funds. Don’t be tempted by receipt of an overpayment of an advance deposit or a fee that appears “too good to be true.” The LSBA, the Office of Disciplinary Counsel and law enforcement agencies encourage LSBA members to exercise caution and perform due diligence before accepting new cases and performing financial transactions involving the lawyer’s trust account.