Debevoise & Plimpton Say Phishing Scam Is Using Firm’s Trademark
New York law firm Debevoise & Plimpton told a Virginia federal court that scammers have been imitating it online to trick victims into sending over money and personal information.
In a complaint on Monday, Debevoise & Plimpton said that the owners of “debevoise-law.com” and “debovoise-laws.com” have been using the names of actual Debevoise & Plimpton attorneys in emails sent out to victims as part of a phishing scheme.
Debevoise & Plimpton remains unaware of who is running the two websites because a privacy service is concealing the owner’s data on the websites’ registration records. Debovoise-law.com directs visitors through to Debevoise & Plimpton’s genuine website, while debevoise-laws.com displays ads for legal services.
The complaint by Debevoise & Plimpton says web-hosting company Namecheap has not acted on its requests, made in October and November, to bring the websites down.
The firm sued the websites for trademark cyberpiracy under federal law. In a statement, Debevoise & Plimpton said “it does not tolerate this type of criminal activity” and that it plans to move quickly to capture the domain names and bring an end to the phishing scheme.
