Invoicing fraud (particularly against law firms) is widespread. You must follow this guidance to prevent it.
Invoicing fraud is where a fraudster intercepts an email to or from us and changes the bank details in transit and without the sender and recipient knowing. To prevent this, you should have/provide the relevant bank details in writing, and you should then telephone the relevant person on a number you are sure is genuine. You should avoid using the number on the footer of an email or headed paper. If the fraudster has changed the account details, then the contact details may well be changed too. If telephoning a third party, obtain their number from a trusted independent source, such as their main website or, for firms of solicitors, The Law Society's Find a Solicitor' (see https://solicitors.lawsociety.org.uk/). You must telephone to reconfirm the bank details, checking them against the written version. This procedure also applies when you are providing our banking details to a client to pass on to a third party (e.g. a funder or investor). Then you should remind the client to tell the third party to call us to confirm our account details before sending any funds. This is essential for all client money movements and advised for all material office money movements, whether to or from the firm. This process avoids the risk of a client paying your fees to a fraudster and not to you! We say to clients in our Terms of Engagement that we will not write to them requesting they send funds to us without first telephoning them. We also say that we require them to telephone you if they receive an unannounced request for funds. Extreme care is required when moving funds. Be aware that fraudsters are sophisticated and effective at defrauding law firms and their clients. Therefore, you must follow these guidelines to prevent an error. Being reckless as to confirming bank details resulting in a loss typically means that the firm will be liable to the client for any client money lost to fraud through negligence.