In June 2022, the FBI and Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) issued a warning about a new wire fraud scam involving attorney trust accounts and the acquisition of medical equipment that resulted in approximately $2 million in losses. See https://www.ic3.gov/Media/Y2022/PSA220630. IC3 described in the warning a fairly complex twist to previous wire fraud and trust account scams.
How the Scam Starts
A bad actor posing as a would-be client approaches an attorney through a professional networking site to request legal representation in reviewing a commercial transaction and serving as an escrow agent. The bad actor(s) then poses as one or more legitimate participants in the commercial transaction – such as the broker, lender, buyer, or seller. The bad actor provides the attorney with what appears to resemble legitimate names and contact information for the companies and individuals involved in the underlying transactions. Most of the companies and individuals involved, however, are fake as the emails, invoices, or transaction documents contained a slightly different spelling from the real company, person, or address.
How the Scam Works
The bad actor/client tells the attorney that funds will be wired to the attorney’s trust account and the attorney will serve as the escrow agent for funds to purchase very specialized medical equipment as part of the transaction. The bad actor hacks the business email of a third-party, which results in successive wire…
