Scam Communications

Scam Alert Warning

Please be aware that a fraudulent domain name has been registered twobirds-eu.com and twobirds-eu.org that is being used in active wire transfer scams against organisations. The domain registrar has been approached by us to remove it.

The emails are typically formatted look as if they come from our Hague or Stockholm office and use the following plea:

“Hello, On behalf of Bird & Bird LLP Netherlands, i am directed to remind you about a missed payment for invoice 461911623 that was issued out in July; for which we were supposed to have received this payment by now. I earlier contacted your management and was asked to reach out to you on this matter immediately. Could you kindly check your records and advice accordingly as soon as possible?”

If you receive any emails from twobirds-eu.com or twobirds-eu.org you are advised not to respond to them, but to report them to your local police or anti-fraud agency. In the UK you should report it to Action Fraud (https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/).

Genuine emails from Bird & Bird only originate from twobirds.com.

If you wish to alert us about a possible scam involving use of our name please contact us: scamalert@twobirds.com.

Should you have any doubt about the authenticity of a communication purportedly coming from Bird & Bird please contact us.

Scam communications

Criminals may pose as someone from Bird & Bird, or claim an association with Bird & Bird, in order to carry out scams or frauds.

Scams usually involve attempts to steal personal or confidential information, to use in illegal activities or redirect money to criminals; they may not always request money or personal details at first, but will usually do so if you respond. In other cases the e-mail may contain a malicious attachment or links which can deliver malware. If you are not expecting the email just delete it or forward to Action fraud in the UK or the relevant body in your jurisdiction.

Some common themes include:

• a copyright or other lawsuit has been filed against you or you are summoned to appear in court;
• inheritance of a substantial sum of money or some other benefit;
• legal services fraud involving the impersonation of our firm or its lawyers to secure advance payment for legal services;
• the use of fraudulent domains or emails purporting to be connected with our firm. We've implemented an email security protocol called DMARC, so any emails which clients receive from @twobirds.com should have originated from our firm. This makes email spoofing more difficult, but not impossible. Please be aware of the use of 'look alike' domains such birdandbird.com, 2birds.com, twobirrds.com, twobirdds.com (and many more!) – threat actors often use them to deceive unsuspecting recipients. Our lawyers will only communicate via our official email systems and will not use Gmail or similar webmail services, so please be cautious of emails purporting to be the firm from these personal email services. Always verify the senders address to ensure it is genuinely from us.
• impersonation of a senior person within the organisation asking for immediate payment to a law firm such as us for money on account or payment of fees. The addressee and bank account will usually be fraudulent, and will redirect funds straight to the scammer. Always be alert for unusual or out of character emails, particularly concerning urgent requests or an unusual transfer of money.
• attempts to change the payment details of our invoices in general, whilst using Brexit or COVID-19 as a reason. These payments will be funneled into a fraudulent account. We will never change our bank details without written warning in advance. Please contact a known person within the firm via another method other than email if this happens. Don’t use the phone number in the email because it may go direct to the scammer.

You can find further information on scams on the Solicitors Regulation Authority website. Unfortunately, we will not be able to recover the funds for you if you have paid money away to a scam. However, we do take all cases seriously and our financial crime team will be happy to take the details of your case.

If you wish to alert us about a possible scam involving use of our name please contact us: scamalert@twobirds.com

Should you have any doubt about the authenticity of a communication purportedly coming from Bird & Bird or wish to report a scam involving use of our name please contact us.