A sophisticated phone scam has been used to target bankruptcy filers in several states. The scammers are using personal information from filings and posing as attorneys to get intended victims to wire funds to satisfy their debts.
If someone calls you, as your bankruptcy attorneys, asking you for an immediate wire transfer to satisfy one of your debts, it is not your bankruptcy attorney, it is a scam artist. Apparently bankruptcy filers in Virginia and Vermont have been receiving spoofed calls where the scammer uses software that enables him to appear to be calling from the debtors’ attorneys offices. Typically, these the calls come late in the evening or during non-business hours to make it difficult for debtors to verify the call by calling their lawyer back.
Consumers receiving this kind of call are advised to hang up and contact their bankruptcy attorney as soon as possible. Do not give any personal or financial account information to the caller. Thankfully there have been no reports of these scammers attempting to take money from Oregon or Washington filers, but you never know.
