Linklaters has been targeted by cyber scammers for the third time in the space of a few months. 

Emails professing to be from Linklaters were sent to a client of the Magic Circle firm, requesting that funds be paid into a 'subsidiary bank account'. A document called 'Linklaters bank information' was attached to one of the emails, claiming to provide genuine bank account details.

The firm has referred the matter to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), which published a warning on the issue on May 10.

The emails and the attached document were ostensibly from a legal project manager at 'Linklaters LLP'. 

Including the firm's genuine London office address and website, the emails used the domain names '@linkiakers.com' and '@linklalers.com', instead of the correct '@linklaters.com'.

Linklaters confirmed that it is not connected to the emails, nor the attached document. A Linklaters spokesperson said the firm has alerted its clients to the scam via its website, and has asked them to be “vigilant if they receive emails the bearing the hallmarks of a scam or phishing attempt”.

The latest incident comes just over a month after a scammer, posing as a Linklaters HR director, attempted to con job seekers out of $1,500, by again using the 'Linklaters LLP' brand to promote a fake ad to become a 'data entry professional' at the firm.

In a similar fraud in February, messages were sent from email addresses ending '@liinklaters.com', asking the recipient to resend an invoice and 'inform exact amount due for payment'.

Law firms have suffered a number of similar cyberattacks in recent years, with fake emails regularly reported to the SRA. Earlier this year, the SRA issued a warning after fake emails claiming to be from Michael Bates, the U.K. managing partner of Clifford Chance, were sent to members of the public.