It has come to our attention that online fraudsters are masquerading as members of the Bar of England & Wales, using unsolicited or trick emails designed to make you hand over money or reveal personal details.

If you believe that you may have received a scam e-mail, do not click on any links in the scam email.  You should not reply to the email or contact the senders in any way.  If you have clicked on a link in the email, do not supply any information on the website that may open and do not open any attachments that arrive with the email.

If you think you may have compromised the safety of your bank details and/or have lost money due to fraudulent misuse of your personal information, you should immediately contact your bank.

Fake emails often (but not always) display some of the following characteristics:

The sender’s email address doesn’t tally with the trusted organisation’s website address.
The email is sent from a completely different address or a free web mail address.
The email does not use your proper name, but uses a non-specific greeting like “dear customer”.
An unnecessary sense of urgency is included in the communication.
A prominent website link. These can be forged or seem very similar to the proper address, but even a single character’s difference means a different website.
A request for personal information such as bank details, or an advance payment of professional fees.
The email contains spelling and grammatical errors.
You weren't expecting to get an email from the individual or the company that appears to have sent it.
The entire text of the email is contained within an image rather than the usual text format.
The image contains an embedded hyperlink to a bogus site.

Please contact our Clerks' Room at clerks@oeclaw.co.uk for further information.