Barkley & Co Legal - Scam Communication

Scam communications: how to avoid them

Phone calls, letters, emails and texts from scammers or fraudsters can seem legitimate and convincing so it's important to be vigilant and look for anything suspicious.

AWARENESS

Become familiar with some of the more common scams and the tips on how to keep yourself secure listed below. If you receive any communication purporting to be from Barkley & Co Legal or any of our partners or employees about which you are uncertain or suspicious, check the background; until you are satisfied do not respond, do not provide personal or confidential information and do not authorise any money transfer.
We are aware of recent attempts to persuade companies to pay substantial amounts of money on the strength of a communication supposedly from a partner at Barkley & Co Legal

KEEPING YOURSELF SECURE

Scams typically involve:

asking you to pay money, perhaps as part of a company transaction;
promising you more money back at a future date;
changing payment details for invoices or money you pay regularly.

Also, look out for:

In the case of an email supposedly from one of our lawyers, you can check whether an individual is from Barkley & Co Legal in the Our Lawyers section of this website;
Sometimes poor use of English (or other language) or over-familiarity from someone you do not know;
Unjustified urgency or confidentiality;
Any express or implied request to override proper financial controls or to pay out against un-cleared funds; and
Request for payment to an unknown party usually in a foreign jurisdiction.

Stay alert when someone you do not know calls you – no matter who they claim to be. Often fraudsters will claim they are from a named law firm or a bank, and then trick you into transferring money or giving confidential bank details.

If someone calls from a named company asking for your personal details, or confidential information concerning your bank details, end the call. Then call the company back on a different telephone at a telephone number you already know, or as found on their official website.

Please let us know about any suspicious communications by emailing us and we will investigate.

Please note that this firm and its lawyers have no involvement in the scams described above or any other scams; our name is being used in an unauthorised and illegal way. Note that we do not use Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo or similar addresses. Unfortunately, we may not be able to recover the funds for you if you have paid money away to a scam, even if the fraudster has pretended to be from Barkley & Co Legal. However, we do take all cases seriously and our Risk & Compliance team will be happy to take the details of your case.

Scam Communications

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