Warning: Phishing emails impersonating the President of Manchester Law Society
It has been brought to our attention that a number of phishing emails are circulating that appear to come from the President of Manchester Law Society. These messages may ask you to act urgently (for example, to make a payment, buy vouchers, share client or member information, or click a link to “review” a document). Please treat any unexpected email of this kind with extreme caution.
What’s happening
Fraudsters are using the President’s name to trick recipients into responding quickly. In some cases, the display name may look correct even when the underlying email address is not. The email may also include links to fake sign-in pages or attachments designed to capture your credentials.
How to spot these emails
- Unexpected urgency or secrecy (e.g., “I need this done immediately”, “keep this confidential”).
- Requests for money, vouchers, bank details, or changes to payment instructions.
- Requests for passwords or verification codes (including Microsoft 365/Google/2FA codes).
- Unusual tone, poor grammar, or wording that doesn’t match how the President normally writes.
- Mismatched sender details: the display name may look right—hover or tap to check the actual address.
- Links that don’t look right or lead to a login page you weren’t expecting.
- Unexpected attachments, especially compressed files or documents prompting you to “enable content/macros”.
What you should do
- Do not reply, click links, open attachments, or download files.
- Report it: forward the message to [email protected]
- Mark as phishing in your email system and then delete it (including from “Deleted Items”).
If you clicked a link, opened an attachment, or shared information
- Change your password immediately for the affected account (and anywhere you reused it).
- Enable multi-factor authentication (MFA) if it is not already enabled.
- Contact your IT support (or your firm’s security team) to run a malware scan and review account sign-in activity.
- If you believe money has been sent, contact your bank immediately and consider reporting the incident to Action Fraud.
Please note: Manchester Law Society will not request confidential information, passwords, verification codes, or urgent payments by unexpected email. If in doubt, pause and verify through official channels.