Please be aware that fraudsters may pose as someone from Irwin Mitchell LLP in order to involve you in a scam or a fraud.
If Irwin Mitchell LLP do contact you we will always provide you with full details about our firm, how we are regulated and our full contact details.
General Advice
Scams will often originate via email, over the telephone or via text and will usually offer you a fictitious opportunity to make a large amount of money. You should be particularly wary of any offers that might suggest that you are entitled to:
- Unclaimed bank funds
- Unclaimed inheritance
- Shares or investments
- Lottery wins
- Access to compensation
- Loans or help with debts
The intention of the fraudster will often be to obtain some money from you, perhaps by suggesting that you need to pay an ‘advance fee, ‘administration fee’ or ‘transaction fee’ to unlock funds. Equally however, fraudsters may be interested in obtaining your identity or bank account details.
You should be very careful about making any payments or providing any of your personal information.
You should be suspicious of invitations to become involved in such schemes. In particular you should be wary of:
- Unsolicited emails
- Poorly written emails containing misspellings or bad grammar
- Communications which seek to put you under pressure to act quickly
- Transactions originating outside of the UK
- Emails or website addresses purportedly from this firm but which do not end in “irwinmitchell.com”
- Calls from mobile telephone numbers
- Addresses for offices which are other than listed on our Our Offices page
- Requests for money or personal information about you when you do not already have an ongoing matter with this firm.
- Attachments or web links – We would suggest that you do not open attachments or follow web links that you are unsure about as they may harm your computer or other device. In some cases even opening the email could be harmful to your device.
If Irwin Mitchell LLP do contact you we will always provide you with full details about our firm, how we are regulated and full contact details.
We recommend that you keep your anti-virus and anti-malware software up-to-date to reduce the risk of being caught out by online scams.
More information about scams and frauds can be found at:
The Solicitors Regulation Authority' scams page
US Federal Bureau of Investigations' scams and safety page
Should you have any doubt about the authenticity of a communication purportedly from Irwin Mitchell LLP or if you wish to report a scam using our name please contact us by emailing: enquiries@irwinmitchell.com.
Specific Hoaxes
Daniel Wright-Smith
We’ve been made aware of an individual using the name Daniel Wright-Smith and claiming to work at Irwin Mitchell as a Criminal Proceedings Investigation Lead. There’s nobody at our firm with the name Daniel Wright-Smith, nor is Criminal Proceedings Investigation Lead a role that we have at Irwin Mitchell, so please treat any correspondence from such an individual with extreme caution.
If you receive a communication purporting to be from Irwin Mitchell, then this should generally either come from our email domain (@IrwinMitchell.com), or if it is a postal letter, it should be on headed paper. Please do carefully consider details such as the postal address or telephone number that features on any letter. If you have any doubt, then you can refer to our website (https://www.irwinmitchell.com/contact-us) where our contact details and office locations are set out.
Telephone Calls
We have been made aware that telephone fraudsters are pretending to be Irwin Mitchell, "cold-calling" individuals about non-existent road traffic collision claims. If you are contacted by someone suspicious, don't give them any personal details. Please also be aware that we don't engage in cold-calling.
Correspondence with “Arjun Babu” – Impersonation of an Irwin Mitchell employee
We’ve been made aware of an individual using the name ARJUN BABU who is purporting to represent Irwin Mitchell. We do not have any partners or employees with the name Arjun Babu, so any communications you receive from this person should be treated as being fraudulent. Genuine Irwin Mitchell email communications will be sent from email addresses using our email domain @IrwinMitchell.com. If we send a letter by post, it will be on our letterhead with the firm’s logo.
Please also consider carefully details such as the postal address and telephone number that are shown in the correspondence as fraudsters will use different contact details. Irwin Mitchell’s contact details are available on our website https://www.irwinmitchell.com/contact-us.
Correspondence with "Harold Smith"
We’ve been made aware of an individual using the name Harold Smith and claiming to work at Irwin Mitchell. There’s nobody at our firm with the name Harold Smith, so please treat any correspondence from such an individual with extreme caution. If you receive communication purporting to be from Irwin Mitchell, then this should generally either come from our email domain (@IrwinMitchell.com) or if it is a postal letter it should be on headed paper. Please do carefully consider details such as the postal address or telephone number that features on any letter. If you have any doubt then you can refer to our website (https://www.irwinmitchell.com/contact-us) where our contact details and office locations are set out.
Impersonation of IrwinMitchell.com Web Pages
We’re aware that a third party have set up a spoof look-a-like of at least one of our web pages. These are nothing to do with us and we are working to get any fraudulent domains taken down.
Please be aware that our web pages are secure and are hosted as: https://www.irwinmitchell.com/... anything else purporting to be us is not to be trusted.
If you see something like this and want to check it with us, please get in touch with us at: enquiries@irwinmitchell.com
Impersonation of Sophie McKelvey
We're aware that a third party has impersonated Sophie McKelvey, an Associate Solicitor in Restructuring & Insolvency, by sending emails to other companies impersonating her and chasing an invoice.
These have come from a ‘spoof’ domain (@irwinnmitchell.com note the additional 'n') and have not come from Sophie or anyone else at Irwin Mitchell. We are working to get the fraudulent domain taken down.
Please be aware that any legitimate communication from Sophie will come from an @irwinmitchell.com email address. If you have received an email like this, please get in touch with: enquiries@irwinmitchell.com
Impersonation of Kate Rawlings
We're aware that a third party has impersonated Kate Rawlings, our Responsible Business Manager and a Trustee of the Irwin Mitchell Charities Foundation (IMCF), in an attempt to defraud a charity using the IMCF details. To do this, they forged Kate's signature on agreement documents and used information from our website and Companies House.
Please be aware that any legitimate communication from Kate will come from an @irwinmitchell.com email address.
Impersonation of Catherine Palmer
A website - www.bitspsltd.co.uk - has been operating falsely claiming to be a law firm in London called BITS PS LTD. This website includes a photo of one of our partners, Catherine Palmer, and claims that she works at BITS PS LTD. Any emails or correspondence purporting to be from this firm should be treated with extreme caution. Any genuine communication from Catherine will come from an @irwinmitchell.com email address.
Emails from addresses using an @irwinm.com domain
We're aware of a third party impersonating an Irwin Mitchell/Ascent employee, using an email address with an @irwinm.com domain. This is not a domain used by Irwin Mitchell or Ascent, so any emails received from this domain should be treated with caution. If you're an Irwin Mitchell or Ascent client and have received an email you're not sure about, please contact your case handler directly to validate the email.
Dalton McWilliams
We're aware of an individual named Dalton McWilliams who is claiming to be an Irwin Mitchell employee on his Facebook page. This person does not work at Irwin Mitchell so please exercise extreme caution if you're contacted by this individual and don't provide them with any information.
Emails Claiming To Be From Bryan Bletso
We've been contacted about an email that claims to be from Bryan Bletso, of Irwin Mitchell LLP, a London-based firm. The email asks the recipient to sign a non-disclosure agreement and transfer money.
This isn't a genuine email from Bryan Bletso or anyone at Irwin Mitchell but appears to be a fraudulent request for personal information.
If you receive an email of this kind, we advise you not to respond or provide any personal or bank details.
Request For Payment To Cover Travel Expenses
We are aware of hoax emails being sent from the email address solicitorirwinmitchell@legislator.com. These emails claim to be from Irwin Mitchell and ask for immediate payment of funds to cover travel expenses to the United States. This is not an Irwin Mitchell email address and these emails are not from us, so please treat any correspondence from this email address with extreme caution.
It's possible that you may receive similar emails from irwinmitchelllawfirmm@consultant.com - again this is not an Irwin Mitchell email address so should be treated with caution.
If you have any doubts about an email you have received that claims to be from us, please contact us on 0370 1500 100 and we can verify the communication.
Gordon & Irwin LLP
We've become aware of a website operating under the name of “Gordon & Irwin LLP”. The website uses the postal address of our London office. This website is nothing to do with us and you should treat any contact related to this website with caution.
Unclaimed Life Insurance
We have been contacted about a fax sent to companies in the USA from Andrew Tucker, described as a Partner from Irwin Mitchell LLP, a London based firm. The fax relates to unclaimed life insurance funds of $10,950,777 for the policy holder Late Eng Arthur Lewis, who died seven years ago. The fax asks the individual to enter into partnership with Andrew Tucker to claim the policy funds.
This is an unauthorised use of Andrew Tucker’s and our firm’s name in order to legitimise what appears to be a fraudulent request for the contact information/identity documentation and bank details of members of the public.
Please be aware that Andrew Tucker and this firm do not have any involvement with the unclaimed life insurance for Arthur Lewis. Neither our firm nor Andrew Tucker has acted or is currently acting for Arthur Lewis or associated individuals, or is involved in any way, in the claim for life insurance funds relating to Arthur Lewis.
If you receive a fax of this kind, you are advised not to respond, nor provide your contact details, proof of identity nor bank details. To the best of our knowledge, the claim that you have been chosen to be a party to, is entirely fraudulent.
We can assure you that we take any attempt to misuse the name / brand of our firm and staff in this way very seriously and will be taking appropriate action.
Recruitment Emails
We have recently become aware of emails being sent in response to applications submitted via other websites, indicating they are from the Irwin Mitchell HR department. These emails are false and give inaccurate information. To ensure your application is received by Irwin Mitchell, please send all applications for positions within Irwin Mitchell to recruitment@irwinmitchell.com. This is the only email address we use to accept applications. Upon receipt of the email you will receive an automated response, confirming your application has been received.
Should you be invited to interview you will be contacted by one of the Irwin Mitchell Recruitment Team. All adverts on the Irwin Mitchell website include a contact name and number should you have any queries.
Lottery Win
We have been contacted recently by a number of individuals concerning the lottery win of Mr Adrian Byford and his apparent decision to donate $1m or £1m to certain individuals, as a ‘charitable donation’. The email sent to these individuals indicates that Mr Byford is a client of our firm, represented by a barrister called Scott Jacks.
This is an unauthorised use of our firm’s brand in order to legitimise what appears to be a fraudulent request for the contact information / identity documentation and bank details of members of the public.
Please be aware that this firm does not have any involvement with either Mr Byford, or Mr Jacks and in particular, Mr Jacks is neither a current, nor former employee of Irwin Mitchell LLP.
If you receive an email of this kind, you are advised not to respond to the email, nor provide your contact details, proof of identity nor bank details as requested in the email as to the best of our knowledge, the claim that you have been chosen to receive the sum of £1m or $1m is entirely fraudulent.
We can assure you that we take any attempt to misuse the name / brand of our firm in this way very seriously and will be taking appropriate action.
Correspondence with “Andrew Phillips”
We’ve been made aware of an individual using the name Andrew Phillips and claiming to work at Irwin Mitchell. There’s nobody at our firm with the name Andrew Phillips, so please treat any correspondence from such an individual with extreme caution.
If you receive communication purporting to be from Irwin Mitchell, then this should generally either come from our email domain (@IrwinMitchell.com) or if it is a postal letter it should be on headed paper. Please do carefully consider details such as the postal address or telephone number that features on any letter. If you have any doubt then you can refer to our website (https://www.irwinmitchell.com/contact-us) where our contact details and office locations are set out.
Other Hoaxes
We have recently been informed of the unauthorised use of the Irwin Mitchell brand in letters sent to individuals alleging their involvement in the distribution of counterfeit clothing.
We have also been made aware of fraudulent correspondence claiming to be from Irwin Mitchell LLP or Queen Street Trustees Ltd (a subsidiary of Irwin Mitchell) offering large investments or suggesting that the recipient was the beneficiary of an unclaimed estate.
Should you have any doubt about the authenticity of a communication purportedly from Irwin Mitchell LLP or if you wish to report a scam using our name please contact us by emailing: enquiries@irwinmitchell.com.
