Cyber attacks and money laundering scams and various attempts to hack into Solicitors and other business account is nowadays at a high level and Almy and Thomas have stringent requirements in respect AML enquiries. We do need to see clients face-to-face with ID documentation which includes photo I.D and a recent utility bill, we do undertake a third party enquiry through search engines that we have to verify I.D.
We have rules as to what cash sums we will receive from clients and we have procedures to consider conflict of interest checks in respect of one client as against the other.
We will not accept bank funds other than from reputable facilities such as main clearing banks and we will not conduct transactions which involve monies coming from at risk countries in Europe and beyond.
All these safety checks are to the benefit of our clients and ourselves and to date we have not had any problems in respect of AML enquiries.
We do recommend clients be live to scams of which we are all aware and indeed it is ironic to note that the Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA) have posted details of scam individuals approaching solicitors purporting to be the SRA.