Posted June 13, 2016 by Tim Lemieux

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The following warning was issued by Lawyers Mutual of North Carolina. We haven’t had any reports of this in Ontario yet, but lawyers should always be alert to phishing scams that try to trick them into opening an attachment or clicking a link that could instal malware.

There is a new phishing scam targeting bar members across the country. The fraudulent email pretends to be a communication from the State Bar or Bar Association.

There are several versions of this scam. The most common are: “[state] Bar Complaint,” “[state] Bar Association Past Due Notice,” and “Lawyers and judges may now communicate through this portal.”

In many instances, scammers pull names from State Bar or Bar Association websites to add legitimacy to their scam.

If you receive one of these fraudulent emails:
1.Do not respond or open any attachments.
2.Delete the email immediately. These emails likely contain malicious software or contain links to phony websites.
3.If you think your account has been compromised, change your password immediately.

To learn more about how phishing scams work, see Don’t Take the Bait on a Phishing Scam.