We have been told of a recent scam which, though it did not involve any of our clients, we thought worthy of sharing. Over the Christmas break a trustee’s email account was hacked and revealed email correspondence between the trustee and their adviser. The hackers, using the trustee’s email account, gave direction to the adviser to organise a transfer of funds for them as they were away on holidays and couldn’t do it themselves. The adviser organised a transfer of a substantial amount from the trustee’s bank. When a second request came the following day the bank asked the adviser to contact the client by phone to confirm. The scam then became apparent and the funds were returned. The clear lesson is that emailed directions from clients for fund transfers should always be confirmed by phone.

Incidentally we do not hold any authority to make such transfers in any case.