Email fraud with subject line ‘Compensation fund’ - 14 September 2016

The UK’s national fraud and cybercrime reporting centre, ActionFraud, has reported that here is a phishing email currently in circulation that claims to be from the City of London Police and which features the subject line ‘Compensation fund’. The similarity to the Law Society’s ‘Client Protection Fund’ may make this subject line of interest to the Scottish legal profession.

According to ActionFraud, the departments that fraudsters claims to represent include the ‘Fraud Intelligence Unit’ and the ‘National Fraud Intelligence Bureau’. The email has a letter attachment that claims to be offering financial compensation to victims of fraud. The letter uses the City of London Police logo.

The letter states that in order for compensation to be arranged, the receiver of the email should reply disclosing personal information. It states that HSBC and the South African Reserve Bank have been chosen to handle the compensation claims. All of these claims are false.

The email and letter are fraudulent and should not be replied to.