Fraud Alert: Email funds transfer fraud targeting Ontario lawyers
LAWPRO has received multiple reports of an email funds transfer fraud targeting Ontario lawyers. Given the similarity of the conversations and the email addresses that are being used, we believe it is the same individual(s) behind this fraud and that there are other firms that have been targeted today, and over the last few weeks.
This fraud is remarkably simple. A lawyer or staff person at the firm will receive an email requesting assistance with making a payment. This request will appear to come from a firm lawyer who is out of the office. While the name of that lawyer will appear in the “From:” line of the email, the email address it was sent from will not be a firm email address (the real address will be hidden behind the name that is displayed). This leads the person in the office to believe they are communicating with their colleague, when in fact they are communicating with the fraudster.
The email addresses we are seeing used in these frauds to date are: [email protected]; [email protected]; and [email protected].
Please advise lawyers and staff at your firm to be highly suspicious of any email requests to transfer funds. Please consider implementing a policy that any such requests are carefully scrutinized and verified directly with the individual making the request.
If you are an Ontario lawyer and have been targeted by one of these frauds, please forward the emails you received to [email protected]. This will help us understand the scope of the fraud and to collect information that may help us prevent other lawyers from being duped.
The following is the conversation that occurred on one of these frauds between the lawyer in the office (the Office Partner) and the fraudster (Vacation Partner). In this case, the lawyer the fraudster was impersonating was out of the office preparing for a vacation.
From: Vacation Partner (fraudster) [[email protected]
Sent: June 9, 2017 12:00 PM
To: Office Partner
Subject: Re: Request
—————————————–
Are you in the office?
From: Office Partner
Sent: June 9, 2017 12:00 PM
To: Vacation Partner (fraudster)
Subject: Re: Request
—————————————–
yes
From: Vacation Partner (fraudster)
Sent: June 9, 2017 12:03 PM
To: Office Partner
Subject: Re: Request
—————————————–
I am tied up in a meeting and I want you to handle a payment for me today, let me know how soon you can get it done and I will forward you the details.
From: Office Partner
Sent: June 9, 2017 12:05 PM
To: Vacation Partner (fraudster)
Subject: Re: Request
—————————————–
You’ll have to give me details
From: Vacation Partner (fraudster)
Sent: June 9, 2017 12:21 PM
To: Office Partner
Subject: Re: Request
—————————————–
Wire transfer amount is $17,860.00 to this beneficiary:
Bank name: Key Bank
Address: 200 Washington St, Watertown, NY 13601
Account name: Otto Glickman
Account number: 322017020841
Key bank routing number: 021300077
Address: 425 Bugbee Dr, Watertown, NY 13601
Let me know once you are done, I will discuss more details with you later.
From: Office Partner
Sent: June 9, 2017 12:44 PM
To: Vacation Partner (fraudster)
Subject: Re: Request
—————————————–
This money is sitting in trust? What file?
From: Vacation Partner (fraudster)
Sent: June 9, 2017 12:48 PM
To: Office Partner
Subject: Re: Request
—————————————–
Operations
From: Office Partner
Sent: June 9, 2017 12:49 PM
To: Vacation Partner (fraudster)
Subject: Re: Request
—————————————–
I am confused. Are you able to talk?
From: Vacation Partner (fraudster)
Sent: June 9, 2017 12:52 PM
To: Office Partner
Subject: Re: Request
—————————————–
Yes
From: Office Partner
Sent: June 9, 2017 12:54 PM
To: Vacation Partner (fraudster)
Subject: Re: Request
—————————————–
Ok. Just want to confirm – you are saying we are advancing this from general?
From: Vacation Partner (fraudster)
Sent: June 9, 2017 12:58 PM
To: Office Partner
Subject: Re: Request
—————————————–
Yes
From: Office Partner
Sent: June 9, 2017 1:00 PM
To: Law firm bank
Subject: FWD Re: Request
—————————————–
Please prepare the following wire transfer. I will come by to review and sign the authorization.
Wire transfer amount is $17,860.00 to this beneficiary:
Bank name: Key Bank
Address: 200 Washington St, Watertown, NY 13601
Account name: Otto Glickman
Account number: 322017020841
Key bank routing number: 021300077
Address: 425 Bugbee Dr, Watertown, NY 13601
From: Vacation Partner (fraudster)
Sent: June 9, 2017 1:52 PM
To: Office Partner
Subject: RE: Request
—————————————–
What is the status of payment?
In this case, the Office Partner figured out it was a fraud while standing in line to speak to a teller at the bank. A near miss!
The banking details used in the apparently related fraud attempts we have seen are as follows:
Wire transfer for the amount of $17,860.00
Bank name: First National Bank of Texas
Address: 782 Interstate 30 Rockwall Texas 75185
Account number: 458361532
Router number: 11906271
Account name: Rita Elser
City: Royce
ZIP code: 75189
State Texas
Wire transfer for the amount of $17,860.00 has consultancy fee to the consultant account details below:
Bank name: Bank Of America
Bank address : 8001 Villa Park Drive Henrico, VA 23228
Account Name: Brenda Bradley
Checking account number :325093199645
Routing number : 121000358
Consultant address: 805 Diablo Ave. Apt. 8 Novato CA. 94947