Theft of Law Firm Website Behind Investment Scam
Reprinted with permission from the Benchers’ Bulletin, published by The Law Society of British Columbia Lawyer’s Insurance Fund

Lawyers should be aware of a scam involving “theft” of law firm websites and identities to give credibility to phony investment schemes.

Victoria law firm McConnan Bion O’Connor & Peterson discovered firm photos and lawyer names had been copied from their website (www.mcbop.com) and used to create a website for a fictitious Vancouver firm called Bion McConnan & Associates.

A company called First Independent Capital Resources, Inc., purportedly from Tokyo, then began soliciting investments in Australia claiming “Bion McConnan & Associates” was its transfer agent for the investment.  First Independent’s website listed a number of impressive deals the company had allegedly been involved in and provided a link to the fictitious “Bion McConnan & Associates” website.  First Independent had also been circulating a fictitious letter purportedly signed by one of the Bion McConnan & Associates lawyers, confirming that certain items would be held in escrow by Bion McConnan & Associates as part of the bogus deal.

Because the fictitious website used the names of real British Columbia lawyers, anyone checking their status in telephone books, law directories or with the Law Society of British Columbia would see that they were Law Society of British Columbia members.

McConnan Bion O’Connor & Peterson only learned of the impersonation when a Vancouver law firm called them on behalf of its Australian affiliate, which was interested in pursuing the investment.  The police are now involved and the fictitious website has been shut down.  The bogus scam letter; however, is still in circulation.

The Law Society of British Columbia urges lawyers and law firms to search the internet regularly to see if anyone is using their names, firm names or other information improperly.  Search engines such as Google.com or Altavista.com will assist.

Lawyers should also check regularly to see if anyone has registered domain names similar to theirs.  Websites such as Easywhois.com, Namedroppers.com and Targetdomain.com allow you to search for registered domain names.  You may also consider registering domain names for common variations of your firm’s name.