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Apr 18, 2022 · Scammers are reportedly asking consumers to transfer funds to prevent fraud. If text messaging is part of your normal everyday life, the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) is warning ...
- Gary Guthrie
Unwanted calls are annoying — but when a caller says they’re an FBI agent collecting on a legal judgment entered against you, it’s also scary. No matter how urgent and serious the call sounds, neither the judgment nor the agent are real. Like other impersonation scams, FBI imposters are after your money and personal information, and they might even threaten to arrest you unless you pay ...
- How The Scam Starts
- How The Scam Works
- Why The Scam Works
- Who Has Legal Liability?
- Ethical Implications For The Attorney
- Five Steps to Prevent Wire Fraud Scams
A bad actor posing as a would-be client approaches an attorney through a professional networking site to request legal representation in reviewing a commercial transaction and serving as an escrow agent. The bad actor(s) then poses as one or more legitimate participants in the commercial transaction – such as the broker, lender, buyer, or seller. T...
The bad actor/client tells the attorney that funds will be wired to the attorney’s trust account and the attorney will serve as the escrow agent for funds to purchase very specialized medical equipment as part of the transaction. The bad actor hacks the business email of a third-party, which results in successive wire transfers of almost $2 million...
This particular scam worked for a number of reasons. The bad actor enticed the attorney with a large commission on the transaction. This attorney (a small solo practitioner) may have been in need of a new client, and experiencing low cash flow, took shortcuts without independently verifying information about the client or the participants in the tr...
In fraudulent wire transfer cases, courts have adopted and applied what is commonly known as the Imposter Rule to allocate loss between parties that were not the perpetrators of the fraud itself. See,e.g., Beau Townsend Ford Lincoln, Inc. v. Don Hinds Ford, Inc., 759 Fed. App’x 348, 354 (6th Cir. 2018); Parmer v. United Bank, Inc., No. 20-0013, 202...
But wait, wire fraud scams do not end with potential legal liability for attorneys and law firms. Rather, these scams can also result in ethical and disciplinary implications from State Bars. In the Fall 2021 edition of the North Carolina State Bar Journal, the Grievance Committee warned North Carolina’s practitioners “who fail to take adequate pre...
IC3 noted in its June 2022 warning that this particular scam worked because the attorney failed to verify information, did not follow firm policies, or wait for funds to clear. Here are some best practices for attorneys and law firms to follow: 1. Verify the identity of the client or participants in the engagement or transaction by phone, video cal...
Nov 2, 2023 · Zelle estimates a total of 67.8 million users is projected for 2023, and that number is only growing. "Although P2P payment services can be easy to set up, simple to use, and are generally secure ...
- Suzanne Blake
Jan 29, 2024 · Over $55 million has been stolen. By Michael Kan. January 29, 2024. (Credit: Getty Images) Online scammers often try to trick victims into wiring them cash. But now some are manipulating users ...
Apr 15, 2022 · The FBI has issued a warning about cybercriminals circulating fake fraud alerts to trick victims into handing over their cash. The scheme tries to scare you into believing the scammers are ...
Apr 30, 2024 · Here are five key takeaways from the 2023 report : 1. Elder fraud is an expensive crime. Scams targeting individuals aged 60 and older caused over $3.4 billion in losses in 2023—an increase of ...
