Prison mail scam hijacks lawyer’s Bar number in narcotics scheme

When prisons started calling a Fleming Island family law practice, the office manager thought it was a scam.

She was half right.

Next came a Florida Department of Corrections email asking if one of the firm’s lawyers registered for permission to correspond with inmates. Absolutely not, the lawyer shot back.

That’s when the lawyer, who prefers to remain anonymous, learned that identity thieves used her Florida Bar number in a prison smuggling scheme.

She guesses the scammers lifted her Bar number from her attorney profile on The Florida Bar website and used it to register for a prison mail account.

“So, they got the registration number, and they started sending mail to inmates in correction institutes, and from what one of the correction institutes reported to us, the mail was laced with narcotics,” the lawyer said.

A department official forwarded the fake registration to the lawyer, and she immediately saw that the identity thieves supplied an email address that was nearly identical to the firm’s – but incorrectly ended with “.net.”

“It was an electronic document that apparently they fill out online, and all they need to do is put your name, your Bar number, and your office information,” the lawyer said.

A department spokesperson could not confirm the incident without the lawyer’s name. Asked to describe the policy attorneys must follow to correspond with inmates, the spokesperson referred Rule 33-601.711 of the Florida Administrative Code.

Beginning in September of last year, attorneys were required to apply for an “attorney registration number,” or “ARN.” Under the policy, every letter is assigned a Legal Mail Tracking Number, or “LMTN.” Attorney letters are opened in front of the inmate and checked for contraband, but prison staff may only read the address and confirm the contents are legal in nature. Staff are not permitted to read the confidential legal content.

The lawyer wasted no time notifying The Florida Bar about the identity theft. She is also planning to file a report with the Clay County Sheriff’s Office.

“I want it known on the record that one, I did not send mail to any inmate, and two, that somebody basically stole my identity and my firm’s identity.”

She hopes her story will remind lawyers to be vigilant.

“I don’t want anyone else to be a victim of this, it’s unnecessary stress and the job is stressful enough,” she said.