Better Business Bureau of Southern Arizona is warning businesses and consumers of fraudulent solicitations from scam artists posing as real law firms online. The FBI says it has received numerous reports from legitimate attorneys who say their firms’ identities have been stolen online.

The FBI is asking that anyone who becomes aware of one of these fraudulent websites report them promptly to their state Bar Association, and to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at www.IC3.gov.

If you receive a suspicious solicitation from an attorney, BBB recommends consumers and businesses check their status with BBB by visiting, www.tucson.bbb.org/Find-Business-Reviews, and with the State Bar of Arizona by visiting www.azbar.org/findalawyer. Any attorney practicing in Arizona must register with the State Bar.

It’s also recommended that businesses and consumers use the contact information provided to them- by BBB or the State Bar- to contact the attorney to make sure they’re the same firm that initially solicited them.

For more business and consumers news and alerts, visit www.tucson.bbb.org.

UPDATE: BBB was contacted by a Tucson attorney who said that in addition to being registered with the State Bar, any Attorney soliciting business in Arizona must include the following disclosure in their solicitation:

“NOTICE: This email and its attachments may contain PRIVILEGED OR CONFIDENTIAL information and is intended only for the use of the specific individual to whom it is addressed. It may contain information that is privileged and confidential under state, federal and tribal law. This email is specifically covered by the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, 18 U.S.C. §2510-2521. This email may contain attorney-client privileged information or work product information and is intended only for the use of the individuals named herein. This information may be used or disclosed only in accordance with the law and you may be subject to penalties under the law for improper use or further disclosure of the information in this email and its attachments. If you have received this email in error, please immediately notify the person named above by reply email and then delete the original email. Thank you.“

Better Business Bureau of Southern Arizona is warning consumers against giving out personal information to unknown callers. Scammers have recently been using the name of legitimate law firms to trick victims across the country into giving out bank information, credit card numbers and other private information.

Victims report receiving calls from individuals using a fake name and an untraceable phone number, who say they work with a law firm in the victim’s area.

The callers claim the firm is suing the victim on behalf of a payday loan provider. The caller goes on to say the victim defaulted on a loan and demands payment and other personal information. Victims may not remember taking out such a loan, but some cases have been linked to security breaches at financial institutions.

There are other variations of this scam. Callers pretend to be law enforcement or government officials (more…)

Better Business Bureau of Southern Arizona is warning that scam-artists- armed with Social Security and Driver’s License numbers- are calling consumers in Southern Arizona and demanding payment for fictitious loans.

BBB received a phone call from a consumer in Sierra Vista on Thursday who said that a man claiming to be from a law firm called Parker and Parker called her at her work, and demanded that she pay $1000 to settle a payday loan, which the consumer says she never took out.

Disturbingly, the consumer said that the caller was extremely aggressive, refusing to hang-up the phone when a co-worker asked that he call back at a later time. The caller also had the consumer’s Social Security and Drivers License numbers.

If you receive a similar call or suspect you’re a victim of identity-theft the Federal Trade Commission recommends you immediately take the following four actions:

1. Place a fraud alert on your credit reports, and review your credit reports.

Fraud alerts can help prevent an identity thief from opening any more accounts in your name. Contact the toll-free fraud number of any of the three consumer reporting companies below to place a fraud alert on your credit report. You only need to contact one of the three companies to place an alert. The company you call is required to contact the other two, which will place an alert on their versions of your report, too. If you do not receive a confirmation from a company, you should contact that (more…)