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Cal Bar Sends Lawyers Email Warning of Phishing Scam

By George Khoury, Esq. on May 18, 2018 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

This week, the State Bar of California sent out a mass email to the lawyers in the state to beware of phishing emails sent from the "California Bar Association." The phishing emails advise attorneys that they must pay a license renewal fee, and to click a link in order to pay that fee. This is a common scam that the state bar has warned lawyers about previously.

If you receive(d) such an email, the real state bar advises not to click the link. Rather, if you are actually concerned that you really did forget to pay your dues, just login to calbar.ca.gov and check your profile. The email that was recently sent out explains that emails from the state bar will only come from an @calbar.ca.gov email address.

Don't Be a Big Phish

While most lawyers out there who receive a phishing email are probably email savvy enough to realize the scam, it only takes a few unsuspecting victims to make it worth a scammer's time. Lawyers are definitely not impervious to phishing scams.

If you receive an email requesting you pay anything via clicking a link in that email, you might want to think twice before clicking any links in that email. If it seems legitimate, you shouldn't let your guard down. If you don't know if it's legit, look at the senders email address closely. If something looks amiss, it's pretty easy to Google-up a phone number and call. (Don't just call the number in the email, that's what scammers would want you to do.)

If you decide it is a legitimate email, after you click the link, check the url, or web-address, to make sure it is correct. Before you login to any website you arrived at via clicking an email link, be on the lookout for misspelled company names in web addresses, or urls/web pages that just don't look right. When in doubt, navigate directly to the website of the company you're supposed to be paying.

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