Illegal use of our name

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

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

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 Prague use the domain "@cliffordchanceprague.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. 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 Prague and attempting to divert payment of an invoice to an unauthorised bank account
• inheritances from overseas or unknown relatives or individuals with the same surname as the recipient
• offers of security work/visa services related to employment
• nanny visa clearances
• bogus review websites
• fake attorneys misusing our name regarding funds to be released from banks
• offers of internships after payment of an 'administrative fee'
• 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 transaction

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.