Solicitors’ firms have reported the receipt of phishing email messages which purport to be from the Law Society and are sent from a variety of email addresses, including some fraudulently using the @lawsociety.org.uk domain. The emails are sent with a Word document and the subject ‘Notification regarding a fraudulent activity involving [recipient name]’.

These emails are not legitimate and should not be opened, forwarded or downloaded. They should be deleted. Recipients who have opened the email should contact their IT provider for support and alert the Action Fraud police service.

The illegitimate emails are being investigated as a matter of urgency by the Law Society with the assistance of appropriate technical and law enforcement agencies, including the National Crime Agency. The Law Society systems have not been compromised, the emails are originating from a third party.

Important communications, including emails and newsletters, will still be sent from the Law Society and should not be disregarded.

There are several basic steps that can be taken to ensure emails addressed from the Law Society are safe:

• Always treat emails containing links or attachments with caution.
• Only open attachments from trusted sources, if in doubt contact the sender to verify the mail as genuine.
• Read any links carefully and be cautious if you do not recognise the sender’s email address.
• Be aware that the displayed link may not be the real address of the site. You can display the real address of a site by hovering over the link.
• Ensure your firm’s virus detection software is up to date.
• Firms who suspect they have been targeted should report the email to the Action Fraud police service.
• To verify the Law Society’s contact details go to our contact page on the website.