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| Scammers have cloned a real attorney's website and used photos of real attorneys to bilk senior citizens into providing financial information. Photo: Shutterstock |
But is it really a law firm, and is it really based in Houston?
The answer, according to the Houston Bar Association, is no. In fact, the association filed a lawsuit in state district court alleging that Walsh & Padilla is fictitious, and its website selling estate planning and other legal services is, in fact, a scam to drain money from elderly clients.
The website uses photos of real attorneys, which they got from other law firms’ websites, in order to look more “lawyerly,” as the Houston Chronicle says. It has a phone number that goes through to an automated answering system.
The way the scam works is that the firm sends letters to elderly people in the U.S. and Canada, telling them that they have life insurance proceeds coming to them. All the victim needs to do is give bank account numbers and the firm will send them the money from the life insurance policy. Unfortunately, those who do provide this information often find themselves with drained bank accounts. One victim had $14,000 stolen from their bank account after they provided “Walsh & Padilla” with their financial details.
The scam was discovered by someone who received a letter from the criminals. That individual did a reverse image search on one of the attorneys’ photos and found the real lawyer—then notified that lawyer of the scam. Later on, William Hayes, a Houston-based attorney, also started getting calls from Canada, and found that the scammers had cloned his firm’s website.
“Someone with some know-how has done this and put this together,” said Mary Kate Raffetto, a commercial litigator who has done a lot of the research to track down the scammers. “The more we investigate, you see they’re trying to cover their tracks to prevent you from finding out who hosts the site.”
The Houston Bar Association obtained a court order requiring the website to be shut down immediately. They also filed a criminal complaint with the Harris County District Attorney’s Office.
The bar association has traced the scam operation to South Africa. They are currently trying to locate the hosting provider so they can deliver the restraining order.
This case serves as a warning to attorneys that scammers are becoming increasingly sophisticated in their techniques, and any lawyer could find themselves an unwitting pawn in a scam. There are companies whose sole job is to monitor attorneys, executives, and other high net worth individuals to ensure they are not being used in these scams. If you are concerned about this, it would be worth the effort to find one of these firms and engage them.
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