Information About Fraudulent Emails and Phone Calls Referencing Baker McKenzie
Baker McKenzie is one of the largest and most prominent law firms in the world, employing thousands of lawyers and support staff in more than 45 countries. The size and prominence of our Firm unfortunately sometimes attracts the attention of unscrupulous individuals who falsely claim to work for Baker McKenzie and/or use our Firm's name to advance fraudulent schemes against innocent people.
Scams and other security risks are rampant on the Internet, and we recommend you take steps to protect yourself and the security of your information. While we routinely report such abuses to law enforcement agencies, the nature and volume of these scams and frauds makes it impossible for our Firm to prevent the misuse of Baker McKenzie's name and the names of our lawyers.
Among the various recent misrepresentations referencing Baker McKenzie are: individuals falsely claiming to be Baker McKenzie lawyers handling consumer debt collection cases, threatening wage garnishment or arrest if funds are not provided immediately; individuals falsely claiming to be Baker McKenzie lawyers requesting to facilitate payment of money urgently for the benefit of a family member who has been in an automobile accident or other emergency; individuals falsely claiming to be from Baker McKenzie making offers of employment or soliciting personal information or application fees via email, or supposedly on behalf of a company using Baker McKenzie as a legal reference or point of contact for such purposes; individuals falsely claiming to send transaction documents, including wire transfer instructions, authored by or involving Baker McKenzie; individuals falsely claiming to be from Baker McKenzie and forwarding supposed court notices that require an immediate response. This is not an exhaustive list of scams. New ones are being devised by criminals all the time.
What should you do?
To report a potential e-mail or telephone or other scam, we recommend you contact the relevant police or government authorities in your jurisdiction. For example, in the US you can file reports with the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center or "IC3" (including for cyber crime schemes and frauds that victimize individuals and businesses), and/or the FTC's Complaint Assistant website (for identity theft, imposter scams and rip-offs, bogus requests for money, etc.). Various cybercrime reporting websites within the European Union can be found via Europol. Also, OnGuardOnline has information about protecting against and reporting suspected online scams, as do other government websites. If you receive a threatening telephone call from someone claiming to be from Baker McKenzie, we suggest:
- Attempt to independently verify the legitimacy of the caller’s identity, including for example by contacting the Firm’s General Counsel
- Do not send the caller any money
- Do not give the caller any personal or financial information about yourself, for example, your bank accounts or credit card numbers
- Report the fraudulent call to the police or other relevant authorities
In addition, if you receive a suspicious email referencing our Firm or appearing to be from our Firm (e.g. from a "spoofed" Baker McKenzie email address, which does not end in "@bakermckenzie.com"), we suggest the following:
- Do not open or click on any links contained in the email
- Do not open or download any attachments to the email
- Do not respond to the email in any way or provide any personal or confidential information in reply to the email
- Do not send any money in response to the email
- If applicable, forward the suspicious email to your organization’s IT Department and ask that they inspect the message to determine legitimacy
- Delete (permanently) the message from your email account
If you have questions about the security of your computer or suspect the security of your computer has been compromised, we recommend you contact your IT support team, computer manufacturer or Internet service provider.
Baker McKenzie is not involved in the scams listed above or any other scams. Note that we do not conduct Firm business via web-based email accounts such as gmail.com, hotmail.com or yahoo.com, or personal email addresses. And we do not conduct Firm business by text message or instant messaging. Neither Baker McKenzie nor its lawyers or employees can accept any responsibility for the criminal conduct of a third party claiming to use the Firm's name. If you have any concerns or receive suspicious communications that reference Baker McKenzie, please contact our General Counsel:
Peter Engstrom
T + 1 415 576 3025
peter.engstrom@bakermckenzie.com