Alerts
Warning: Email misusing the name of Cheshire Estate and Legal Limited (CEL Solicitors)
5 August 2024
An email has been sent misusing the name of Cheshire Estate and Legal Limited (CEL Solicitors) in relation to supposed Crypto currency funds.
What is the scam?
An email has been sent from an individual falsely claiming to be 'Mark Anderson' using an email address of 'markanderson.ciscouk@protonmail.com'. The email was signed from an individual called 'Andrew Payne' claiming to be 'Financial Agent Cyber Security' at a genuine firm of solicitors.
The email refers to supposedly recovering funds lost to trading scams, including with Forex, CFDs and cryptocurrency.
The email provides a telephone number of '+44 7376 518549'.
The email misuses the name, address of a genuine firm of solicitors (see below).
Any business or transactions through 'markanderson.ciscouk@protonmail.com' or '+44 7376 518549' are not undertaken by an individual or firm of solicitors authorised and regulated by the SRA.
Is there a genuine firm or person?
The SRA authorises and regulates a genuine firm of solicitors called Cheshire Estate and Legal Limited trading as CEL based at 12th Floor 20 Chapel Street Liverpool L3 9AG.
Cheshire Estate and Legal Limited does not employ anyone called 'Mark Anderson' or 'Andrew Payne'.
Cheshire Estate and Legal Limited have confirmed that they do not have any connection with the email referred to in the above alert.
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.
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More information
Update 3 September 2024
The SRA has been informed that further emails have been sent from an individual called 'Andrew Payne' claiming to be from CEL Solicitors.
The emails were sent using an email address of 'Andrewpayne1121@gmail.com'.
The SRA understands that telephone calls were made using the numbers of '020 2862 7218', '020 3668 3461' and '020 3376 8567'.
Any business or transaction through the email address of 'Andrewpayne1121@gmail.com' or the telephone numbers above are not undertaken by a genuine solicitor authorised or regulated by the SRA.
Cheshire Estate and Legal Limited has confirmed that it does not have any connection to the email or telephone numbers above. The email domain used by the firm is @celsolicitors.co.uk. The telephone number is 0151 909 8212.