Olswang's Finance Director has apparently handed over £42,000 of the firm's money to fraudsters after they sent her an email asking for the money.

Alison Ripley received an email purporting to be from Michael Burdon, who until yesterday was the firm's interim Chief Exec*. A source says that the email demanded that she immediately transfer the funds to a nominated bank account, and asked her not to call Burdon as he would be in meetings for the rest of the day. Olswang has, rather unsportingly, refused to provide a copy of the email. So RollOnFriday scientists have had a crack at recreating it:

How the email didn't look: a RollOnFriday simulation

Astonishingly, rather than just deleting the email or having a bit of fun trying to reel the fraudsters in, it seems Ripley transferred the cash. Once she realised she had been duped the police were called in. But as the Met's finest begin their investigations ("So what's this electric-mail then?") Ripley will have to explain to the partners why a stack of their cash is likely to end up being driven around Lagos.

Someone pretending to be Michael Burdon yesterday

A spokeswoman for the firm said "we can confirm that an attempted external fraud has been reported to the police and is currently being investigated. Due to the ongoing investigation, we will not be making any further comments at this stage."

*He's just been replaced by Paul Stevens, the firm's former Head of IP. Who'll be hoping he doesn't meet the same fate as his predecessor.