Identity Misuse and Inheritance Scams

SLIA is advising Saskatchewan lawyers of an increase in fraudulent inheritance and estate-related scams involving the impersonation of Saskatchewan law firms and individual lawyers. There have also been reports of individuals receiving correspondence via regular mail from an individual misrepresenting themselves as a Saskatchewan lawyer and asking to split the proceeds of a life insurance policy.

In these schemes, unknown actors falsely represent themselves as Saskatchewan law firms or lawyers using cloned or look-alike websites, spoofed email addresses and telephone numbers, firm names and former or publicly available addresses, and fabricated correspondence purporting to relate to estates, inheritances or life insurance policies.

These communications are often directed at members of the public outside Canada. In several instances, firms have been contacted by recipients seeking confirmation of the legitimacy of the correspondence.

 Recommended Steps if Your Identity Is Being Misused

• You may wish to contact the police and encourage any member of the public who reaches out to contact the police as well.
• Report the matter to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre.
• Notify SLIA.
• Advise members of the public who contact your office that the correspondence is fraudulent and encourage them to report it.
• Preserve evidence of the scam (emails, letters, website screenshots, domain details).
• Issue a public notice on your firm website and/or social media accounts clarifying that the communications are fraudulent.
• Report fraudulent websites and emails to relevant security services (e.g., Google Safe Browsing, Microsoft SmartScreen).
• Review your firm’s domain and email security, including SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records, to reduce the risk of email spoofing.

Lawyers with questions or who wish to report identity misuse are encouraged to contact SLIA or the Law Society for guidance.

Reminder to be Vigilant against Fraud Attempts

Fraud attempts can target lawyers in many practice areas and may be very sophisticated social engineering scams.  Frauds may also involve legitimate clients and valid transactions.  Previous fraud attempts in Saskatchewan have involved incidents where a legitimate client provided wire transfer instructions via email for the balance to close on a valid real estate transaction.  A subsequent email, which appeared to come from the same client, provided new bank account information.  The firm noted that one of the names in the body of the email did not match the firm’s records and contacted the client via telephone to confirm the new instructions.  The client advised they had not sent the revised banking information and this alerted both the firm and client to the fact that the client’s email had been hacked.

This is a reminder that if you are about to pay out trust funds and your client’s payment instructions change, stop and ensure that the change is legitimate by making direct contact with your client.

The following controls are recommended:

• Obtain instructions including the details of the wire transfer directly from the client either verbally or in written form (electronic or original). The details of the transfer must be confirmed. This confirmation must also be received directly from the client either verbally or in written form (electronic or original). One of either, the details of the wire transfer received by the client, or the confirmation by the client at the time of transfer, must be in writing.
• Confirm any change in banking instructions by telephone using confirmed contact information from the law firm’s file;
• Keep an eye out for inconsistencies in client emails when compared to prior correspondence (i.e., poor grammar, a beneficiary name that is not in the file, a foreign address, contact information that does not match your records, etc.)
• If a client’s email becomes hacked, cease to correspond with such client via email until their email is confirmed to be secure; and
• share the details of any scam with all firm staff.

Be extra diligent when paying out any funds from your trust account (or general account) and especially when payment is made by wire transfer or electronic fund transfer[1].  It is extremely unlikely, if not impossible, to reverse a wire transfer or electronic fund transfer, even in cases of fraud. If you have any questions, please contact the Law Society Auditors at (306) 569-8242 or auditor@lawsociety.sk.ca.

For further information on Wire Transfer Procedures via Online Wire Payment Service, please see the Law Society of Saskatchewan Emergency Practice Direction #2.

[1]“electronic funds transfer” in Law Society of Saskatchewan Rule 1501 means an electronic transmission of funds conducted by and received at a financial institution or a financial entity headquartered in and operating in a country that is a member of the Financial Action Task Force, where neither the sending nor the receiving account holders handle or transfer the funds, and where the transmission record contains a reference number, the date, transfer amount, currency and the names of the sending and receiving account holders and the conducting and receiving entities.

LawPRO Fact Sheet for Cybercrime and Bad Cheque Scams