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"The modus operandi of the fraudsters is to deposit a cheque into the trust account of an unsuspecting attorney, and then to demand repayment on the basis that the attorney was not the intended recipient of the funds," the LSSA said in a joint statement with the Attorneys Fidelity Fund (AFF).
"While this particular scam is not confined solely to the attorneys' profession - it has surfaced in all sectors of commerce and industry - attorneys are particularly at risk in view of the high volume of funds flowing through their trust accounts," said Andrew Stansfield, AFF financial director.
Demand for repayment had generally been either telephonically or by way of a faxed copy of a letter purporting to be from the AFF.
"The attorney is then requested to 'repay' electronically into an account purporting to be in the name of the AFF, which is in fact opened in some other name."
Stansfield said the success of the scam relied on the fact that there was no matching of the account name with the account number when an electronic payment was processed.
He said the fraudsters used a stolen identity document to open a bank account. A stolen cheque book was then used to make a cheque deposit into the attorney's account.
"A number of attorneys have fallen prey to the scam by 'repaying' funds without waiting to see whether the cheque deposit has been honoured by the bank.
"In the event the cheque deposit turns out to be a stolen cheque, which is ultimately reversed by the attorney's bankers."
Stansfield said the cases were reported to the police although it was not easy apprehending the suspects. This was because the accounts were only used for one successful fraudulent transaction and then abandoned.
- Sapa
