Womble Carlyle attorney Allen O'Rourke recently helped a client recover more than $38,000 that had been stolen through an email fraud scheme.
One of the client's employees received a series of emails which falsely purported to come from the company's CEO, but actually came from an outside scammer. The emails requested that a wire transfer be made to pay an invoice. Believing them to be legitimate, a team member complied with this request and directed the wire transfer to go out. She soon found out that it was a fraud and alerted the bank. However, bank officials said that it was too late and the wire transfer could not be reversed.
Upon learning of the situation the following day, O'Rourke reached out to both the client's bank as well as the bank that received the wire transfer. He also engaged a special agent in the FBI's cyber squad who agreed to help support the effort. By the next morning, O'Rourke located the stolen funds and had them placed on hold. He then negotiated with the banks and was successful in having the money returned to the client. It was a fantastic result that exceeded the expectations of a client who had considered the money lost.
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