Announcements Archive

This Legal Services Corporation (LSC) Office of Inspector General (OIG) advisory is intended tohighlight the growing trend of financial fraud committed against the senior citizen population. Seniors are a substantial portion of the United States population and the LSC grantee client base. If affected by the fraud schemes described in this advisory, eligible senior clients may request assistance from your legal aid program. According to the Council on Aging, fraud schemes targeting seniors are costly, widespread, and on the rise. Seniors may become targets because they can be more trusting, may own homes, may possess personal savings, may be socially isolated, and may be less tech savvy. For example, in its fiscal year 2024 budget request, LSC reported that more than one quarter of seniors dealt with consumer and finance problems such as consumer scams and abusive debt collection practices.

In a continuing effort to assist Legal Services Corporation (LSC) grantees and subgrantees in detecting and preventing cyberattacks, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) for LSC is issuing this Hotline Advisory to notify grantees of two recent Business Email Compromise (BEC) frauds perpetrated against LSC grantees. In this advisory, the OIG provides updates on BEC schemes and emerging BEC threats as well as details on how the two recent direct deposit BEC schemes were perpetrated on LSC grantees. We also offer best practices for detecting and preventing BEC schemes, such as the recent BEC payroll schemes and others, and provide grantees with the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) guidance on reporting BEC schemes. Taking action to protect yourself against these threats will help you mitigate financial, cybersecurity, and reputational risks.

OIG updated the LSC OIG Audit Guide and Appendices which include the Compliance Supplement for Audits of LSC Recipients (Appendix A). These documents will be effective for audits of LSC recipient fiscal years ending on or after September 30, 2023. Questions about the LSC OIG Audit Guide or Appendices should be sent to OIG at audits@oig.lsc.gov.

In light of recent bank failures, the Legal Services Corporation (LSC) Office of Inspector General (OIG) is providing this article, outlining steps to be taken should your grantee funds on deposit exceed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s (FDIC's) $250,000 deposit insurance limit.

In a continuing effort to assist grantees and subgrantees in preventing cyber threats, the Office of Inspector General for the Legal Services Corporation is providing the following guidance to assist grantees in protecting personal data from a cyber-attack.

In a continuing effort to assist Legal Services Corporation grantees and subgrantees in preventing cyberattacks, the Office of Inspector General is issuing a Hotline Advisory to notify grantees of a U.S. Government resource and initiative aimed at protecting American businesses and communities from ransomware attacks.

The information presented is a summary of the results of QCRs of Fiscal Year 2020 and Fiscal Year 2021 financial statement audits conducted by IPAs. We encourage IPAs and Executive Directors to use the summary information in planning and conducting audits of LSC grantees.

On December 16, 2022, a criminal complaint was filed and an arrest warrant was issued for Teresa Trantham, former Chief Administrative Officer, Legal Services of Eastern Michigan (LSEM). The complaint is based on a joint investigation conducted by the Office of Inspector General (OIG), United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and the OIG for the Legal Services Corporation (LSC).

The Office of Inspector General has updated the Audit Guide for Recipients and Auditors and its appendices. The appendix that has majority of the updates is Appendix A (The Compliance Supplement for Audit of LSC Recipients). The appendix designations have also changed to Appendices A-E.

As part of its Hotline Advisory Alerts, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) for the Legal Services Corporation (LSC) is notifying grantees with the following information on recent phishing/malware attacks on businesses that use Intuit QuickBooks. We understand that some LSC grantees use QuickBooks.

Security notices from Intuit advised of several cybercrime phishing schemes against QuickBooks users. In a notice dated May 25, 2022, Intuit warns of one scheme where the user is told by the perpetrator that a temporary hold was placed on their account pending verification of account information. In a notice dated April 28, 2022, Intuit warns of another scheme where the perpetrator confirms receipt of payment by the user for a fake invoice. The messages then direct the account holder to click on a link or to complete verification, resulting in the downloading of malware or offer a phone number where scammers are prepared to extract valuable personal or financial data from the caller.