Posted in: Lawyers › None
Alert! Phishing emails—June 22 and 24, 2022
Fraudulent email messages were sent to some members of the SC Bar on June 22 and June 24 with the subject lines "Support Jack” and "Bobs Campaign." If you received these fraudulent emails, delete and do not click on links.
While the messages said they were from “The South Carolina Bar," both came from gmail.com addresses.
Unfortunately, phishing attacks are on the rise, and cyber criminals behind such messages are becoming increasingly clever in ways to get past filters and into your inboxes including using logos and organization names.
Note, these types of phishing messages do not mean the SC Bar has been hacked. Phishing is a way cyber criminals masquerade as a trustworthy source in an attempt to bait a user to surrender sensitive information such as a username, password, credit card number, etc.
Protect yourself and your information by always looking carefully at your email messages. Don’t trust the display name (whether it’s SC Bar or South Carolina Bar). Fraudsters will spoof both company/organization names and display names, and often hijack legitimate logos. Please read more tips about spotting phishing messages and protecting yourself.
- Check the message body for spelling and punctuation mistakes and strange phrases.
- Beware of urgent calls to action or threats of penalty. Be highly suspicious of emails that say you must click a link or open an attachment immediately. Creating a false sense of urgency is a common trick of phishing attacks and scams.
- Look at the body of the email but don’t click links or open attachments. Never open an attachment in a message that you are not expecting to receive.
- Don’t give any personal information. The SC Bar and all legitimate companies/organizations will not ask for personal information via email.
- Remain vigilant. Phishers are very good at what they do, and most malicious messages now contain convincing brand logos, language, titles of key leaders and email addresses that may look valid. Be skeptical when reading your email messages. If you receive a message from the SC Bar that appears to be suspicious, please contact us
Thank you to the Bar members who alerted us to this message.