Clifford Chance

There are illegal scams in operation where the Clifford Chance name and/or the names of our lawyers are being abused.

The Clifford Chance name and sometimes the names of individual lawyers within our firm have been used in various fraudulent scam emails, letters, instant messages and phone calls.

Latest update: November 2024

You should exercise caution if you receive any unexpected or unusual communications which purport to come from a member of our firm. Genuine emails from Clifford Chance use the domain "@CliffordChance.com". We are aware that there have been attempts to use domain names similar to ours to impersonate our lawyers and other employees. If you need to check with us whether a communication is genuine, please contact us to confirm before replying or taking further action.

Fraudulent communications involving use of our name typically seek to identify a victim by suggesting that an inheritance or a job can be obtained by paying an upfront fee. Another variant is to send demands for money in relation to non-existent claims; or to chase for payment of a fictitious invoice. Sometimes fake documents referring to the firm's name and/or its lawyers are sent to the victim.

Common themes include:

• emails purporting to be from Clifford Chance and attempting to divert payment of an invoice to an unauthorised bank account
• unexpected requests purporting to be from a Clifford Chance partner and asking the recipient to execute a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) through an online document execution platform in connection with a confidential, time-sensitive transaction
• WhatsApp messages which purport to attach an electronic contact card for one of our partners and which invite the recipient to contact the partner to discuss a new or urgent transaction
• inheritances from overseas or unknown relatives or individuals with the same surname as the recipient
• offers to recover funds that the recipient has lost through trading in cryptocurrencies or other securities
• emails purporting to be from Clifford Chance making arrangements for the appointment of the recipient to a new role at their existing employer and requiring execution of a non-disclosure agreement
• fake barristers misusing our name regarding funds to be released from banks
• contracts purporting to be drafted by us regarding Middle Eastern business sales
• use of our US telephone numbers by fake credit consolidators
• offers of internships after payment of an 'administrative fee'

We are not involved in these transactions.

This is not an exhaustive list of scams. New ones are being invented all the time. Please remain vigilant for your own protection. These scams aim to get your money and/or your personal data to use in other illegal activities. They may not always request money or personal details on initial contact but will often do so after you respond.

Please also note that:

We do not use Gmail, Hotmail or Yahoo email addresses, nor email addresses such as cliffordchance_legalrepresentative@lawyer.com

You should remain alert to communications involving typosquatting (i.e. similar spellings to our website domain) and other domain mimicry by fraudulent actors. For example, none of the following domains are associated with our firm:

[name]@cliifordchance.com

[name]@cliffordchancelegal.com

[name]@cliffordchancelawllp.com

[name]@cliffordchance-law.com

The above is not an exhaustive list: new variations are constantly being registered by fraudulent actors.

We recommend you delete scam emails and do not reply to scam letters. If you need to check with us whether a communication is genuine, please contact us.