why we do not do electronic funds transfers

Cybercrime has been on the rise for some time with a large increase in the amount and type of cybercrimes occurring in the last two years.

Wollerman Shacklock no longer makes electronic transfers from its trust account. This is to protect our clients as money in our trust account is not our money – its belongs to our clients.. Any form of electronic transmission such as email can be intercepted and altered, unbeknown to either the sender or receiver until it is too late. Law firms in particular are targeted as they are known to have large sums of money in the trust accounts holding client’s funds.

In the event that an electronic transmission containing bank account details was intercepted, altered and payment was subsequently made incorrectly, we may not be covered by our insurer to replace the funds that have been misappropriated. In this event the client would lose their funds with no recourse.

If we need to make payment to you, we will draw a cheque and send it to you by express post. In some circumstances we can bank a cheque into your account on your behalf. We understand that it is a less convenient process, however we do this in order to protect your money.

If we are to provide our Trust Account details to you, we provide these to you either in person or in a non-editable format such as a text message. We will not change our trust account details suddenly, so if you receive notification from us that our Trust Account details have changed, please contact our office immediately. This is to ensure that if you are paying funds into our account to be held on your behalf, that they are paid to our correct account. If you receive an email from us asking for your details so we can make an electronic transfer, please do not respond. Contact us immediately by telephone as this would likely be a scam.

In matters such as conveyancing matters where your bank details are required for settlement, we will always contact you to confirm your bank details are correct prior to settlement.

If you would like further information or ideas on how to protect yourself from cybercrime when undertaking any type of electronic transaction, take a look at the Cybercrime Brochure on our website.