Scams and Fraud

Please be aware that criminals may pose as someone from our firm, in order to carry out scams or frauds.

What To Look Out For

Scams will often originate by email and may take a number of forms, including, but not limited to:

• telling you that bank account details have changed
• false invoices for legal services
• urgent requests for payment seemingly coming out of the blue
• offering money
• bequests under a will
• threatening legal action if the victim does not respond
• malicious attachments made to look innocuous such as an industry update
• requests for password or bank account details and links to helpful or relevant websites

A key element of scams of this type is the enticement of the victim to enter into some form of communication with the scammer, or making the victim take some action such as clicking a link.

These scams can take many forms. Recent fraudulent communications where law firms’ name has been used contained the following red flag features:

Change in bank account details. We will never advise of a change in our bank account details in the body of an email. It would also be highly unusual for us to advise of our general bank account details in the body of an email (as opposed to a letter or invoice). If you receive an email of this nature, you should check on the telephone with us and speak to a person known to you from our firm before making payment.

An unusual originating email address. All authentic email addresses from us use a standard form – info@ashtonbirch.com. Any communication purporting to be from us but not using this email format is more than likely fraudulent.  Please also be aware that email addresses can be spoofed, so you should check that the reply-to address is not unusual.

Email missing invoice attachment. In some cases, a perpetrator may send an email without attaching an invoice, in order to prompt the recipient to respond to request the attachment, building a degree of rapport or trust.

A communication containing any of these features is highly unlikely to have originated from us, and should be treated with caution. If you receive an email or invoice with any of these features, do not correspond with the sender. Please report the incident to info@ashtonbirch.com immediately.

Please note that the above is not an exhaustive list, and we encourage you to take action with respect to any emails that seem suspicious, whether or not they contain any of the aforementioned features.

Reporting Incidents

If you receive a communication purporting to be from us that you believe may be fraudulent, or you wish to clarify the authenticity of any invoices or emails that appear to have been sent to you by the firm, please contact us at info@ashtonbirch.com

We routinely report scams constituting crimes to law enforcement agencies, but it is impossible for us to completely put a stop to the fraudulent use of our name and the names of our lawyers for this purpose. We appreciate you providing us with any information which may assist us in identifying those responsible for scams, and encourage you to report any confirmed incidents of fraud involving the use of the firm’s name and the names of our lawyers to Action Fraud in the UK.

The Solicitors' Regulation Authority also maintains a website listing known scams involving UK law firms at https://www.sra.org.uk/alerts