The Mississippi Bar warned on Mar. 24 that a phishing scam is targeting lawyers in the state by sending fraudulent emails that appear to come from State Bar leadership or staff.
The warning is important because these deceptive messages attempt to trick recipients into buying gift cards and could compromise personal information if responded to. The scam involves emails with misleading addresses, some of which read: “Greetings, checking to see if we can touch base on something?” Once someone replies, the sender instructs them to purchase gift cards.
The Bar clarified that legitimate communications from its officers will never use Gmail accounts. “You can expect that legitimate emails from Bar leadership will NOT have the domain @gmail.com in the ‘from’ field of your email application. No current Bar officers utilize Gmail for their work email address,” according to the statement. Official correspondence will always include the specific domain @msbar.org and no variation of it.
Members are advised not to respond, click links, or provide any personal information if they receive suspicious messages claiming to be from the Mississippi Bar or its representatives. The recommended action is immediate deletion of such emails.
As scams like this continue nationwide, vigilance remains crucial for legal professionals who may be targeted due to their public contact information and professional status.