Alerts

Warning: Email misusing the name Howard Cohen & Co Solicitors

26 May 2022

An email has been sent falsely claiming to be from 'Howard Cohen & Co. Solicitors', which is a genuine trading name of Cohen Cramer Limited.

What is the scam?

The SRA has been informed that an individual, using the name 'Rebecca Carter', has sent an email to a member of the public falsely claiming to be an employee of Howard Cohen & Co (see below for details of the genuine firm)

The email related to a debt recovery issue but was sent using an email address of 'rebecca.carter@howardcohen.co.uk'.

The email misuses the name and postal address of a genuine firm of solicitors (see below).

Any business or transactions through the above email address is not undertaken by an authorised solicitor's practice or by an individual authorised and regulated by the SRA.

Is there a genuine firm or person?

The SRA authorises and regulates a genuine firm of solicitors called Cohen Cramer Limited, which also trades as Howard Cohen & Co. The firm is based at Suite 1B Joseph's Well, Hanover Walk Westgate Leeds LS3 1AB.

The firm has confirmed it does not employ a staff member called Rebecca Carter and has no genuine connection to the email referred to in the above alert.

The firm has confirmed that the part of its business that is branded 'Howard Cohen & Co' does carry out debt recovery work, but that emails sent out from the genuine Howard Cohen & Co come from addresses ending '@howard-cohen.co.uk' (with a hyphen).  They have also advised that the general telephone contact number for work carried out as Howard Cohen & Co would be 03306780240.

What should I do?

When a firm's or individual's identity has been copied exactly (or cloned), due diligence is necessary. If you receive correspondence claiming to be from the above firm(s) or individual(s), or information of a similar nature to that described, you should conduct your own due diligence by checking the authenticity of the correspondence by contacting the law firm directly by reliable and established means. You can contact the SRA to find out if individuals or firms are regulated and authorised by the SRA and verify an individual's or firm's practising details. Other verification methods, such as checking public records (e.g. telephone directories and company records) may be required in other circumstances.