Cyber security
If you receive any communication purporting to be from Harper Macleod LLP or any of our partners or employees about which you are uncertain or suspicious, please forward it to [email protected] and we will investigate. Never reply to such e-mails and particularly do not part with money, provide personal or confidential information and do not click on any links in the e-mail.
Please be aware cyber-criminals deliberately target lawyers and their clients, often by attempting to impersonate your lawyer. Be particularly sensitive to the fact that email is not secure and can be intercepted and amended. If you are due to transfer money to Harper Macleod and have received an e-mail with sort code and account details then we recommend you call your Harper Macleod solicitor or contact to corroborate these details. Please use a phone number from our website or terms of engagement letter and not one from the same e-mail as contains the bank account details. We will not change bank account details during the course of a transaction, and we will not pressurise you into transferring large sums of money.
Avoid posting statuses on social media about buying/selling houses, or getting a mortgage, or any other matter that may involve a large financial transaction. Fraudsters monitor social media for this information.
Avoid using public Wi-Fi systems to check e-mails and correspond with Harper Macleod. Fraudsters can easily hack into vulnerable Wi-Fi systems.
If you use webmail (e.g. hotmail, gmail, etc) then ensure you have a strong password; do not share the same password on different accounts, and definitely switch on two factor authentication (which would alert you, e.g. by SMS text if anyone else attempted to log on to your webmail account).
Harper Macleod LLP will never attempt to induce anyone to click on links to potentially fraudulent websites, or submit personal information, or to part with money as an up front payment in order, for example, to release a prize. We have become aware that Harper Macleod LLP’s name is being used in conjunction with:
- The distribution of funds to 5 lucky people from the Weir Charitable Trust (sometimes from Chris Weir or Christine Weir in relation to the distribution of lottery money, and usually quoting an e-mail address that does not match our @harpermacleod.co.uk domain)
- Glasgow 2014, in relation to an email scam and other fraudulent or inappropriate conduct.
Harper Macleod LLP has reported these scam emails to the UK police.
For further information on how you can improve online safety behaviour please visit the UK Government’s site https://www.cyberstreetwise.com/