Debevoise & Plimpton sue for phishing using the name of a law firm

REUTERS / Kacper Pempel / Illustration

(Reuters) – New York law firm Debevoise & Plimpton told a Virginia federal court that cybersquatters imitated it online to trick victims into sending them money and sensitive information.

The company said in a Monday complaint that the owners of “debevoise-law.com” and “debevoise-laws.com” sent emails using the names of Debevoise lawyers as part of a phishing campaign. The lawsuit asks the court to transfer the domain names to Debevoise.

Debevoise-law.com redirects visitors to the actual Debevoise website, while debevoise-laws.com displays advertisements for legal services. The company said it did not know who operates the sites because owner information on the sites’ registration records was withheld by an Iceland-based privacy service.

The complaint says web hosting service Namecheap did not follow up on Debevoise’s requests in October and November to take down the sites.

Namecheap, who is not named as a defendant, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Debevoise sued the websites for cyber brand piracy under federal law. A cabinet statement said it “does not tolerate this type of criminal activity” and plans to act quickly to “capture these domain names and put an end to this scheme”.

The firm’s lawyers, David Bernstein and Jonathan Tuttle, are representing him in this case.

The case is Debevoise & Plimpton LLP v. debevoise-law.com, US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, # 1: 21-cv-01386.

For Debevoise: David Bernstein and Jonathan Tuttle from Debevoise & Plimpton

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