UK firms lose £2m client funds to scammers

December, 04 2014

Four UK law firms have recently lost £2m between them to scammers who tricked them into disclosing bank security data over the phone.

According to the Solicitors Regulation Authority, the scammers get the trust of the people they speak to - a process known as 'social engineering' - and then ask for 'challenge and response' codes and, in some cases, log in and password codes.

Convincing

Robert Loughlin, the authority's executive director of operations, said: 'These scammers are very active and convincing. They are highly sophisticated in their approach and therefore very capable of duping many people.' Source: SRA