Comments on: Lawyer collection internet scam

By: CSO

CSO — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 16:38:28 +0000

In regards to legislation, the “Can Spam” act could simply be enhanced to include such solicitations via email. There are already ample laws covering fraud, counterfeiting, forgery, mail fraud, wire fraud, bank fraud, etc.

So many of the reports on this scam are inaccurate. The suspects are not in Asia, however their money laundering accounts are. The Asian’s that control those accounts charge the scammers between 20-30% of the amount passed through.

The actual scammers are highly concentrated in the Toronto area as well as in the UK. The first and most successful gang operating this scam is now ‘sharing the territory’ with 3 other copycat groups. The scam is now also in the wild, as non-associated scammers and much smaller groups are now attempting to get in on the success.

Attorney to attorney referrals are not the only ploy utilized. More often than not, the scammers contact the firms directly posing as a possible client.

Also probably inaccurate, was the report of a “quick arrest” by the FBI. We are attempting to verify this.

What we find interesting is that other than a few state bar associations making the attempt to notify their members, most were slow on the uptake. When we broke the story to the ABA last year, it was assumed that word would filter down. Unfortunately, this was not the case.

It took the preventable loss of millions for action to be taken. Millions more will be lost unless all are advised of the scam.

By: meanderline

meanderline — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 15:07:50 +0000

I have a couple of clients right now targeted by a similar scam via a Secret Shopper solicitation, and it’s been around in a variety of forms for years now. This is very clever variant. It’s interesting to me that the scammers have moved up the food chain. I will be curious to see if this prompts some legislation now that influential folks are getting scammed.

By: Randy Wallace

Randy Wallace — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 03:13:44 +0000

Bradley Arant was reported to have gotten hit for over $400k on this scam.

http://www.abajournal.com/weekly/bradley_arant_reportedly_scammed_out_of_more_than_400k

By: DeltaLawMama

DeltaLawMama — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 00:45:19 +0000

A bulk email folder/bin is a very good thing to have. Downside of it that legit emails end up there too somtimes. My bulk mail folder is trainable, learns by what I mark as spam!

By: NMC

NMC — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 23:28:40 +0000

I get them pretty steadily and have been getting them for a long time. I never made an attempt to do anything to check them out, just deleted and moved on.

By: somslawyer

somslawyer — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 23:13:32 +0000

I been getting 3-5 emails like this every weekday for about six weeks. All of them identify a Chinese company.

By: a friend of the law

a friend of the law — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 20:16:55 +0000

I have been deleting all such emails I receive. If I do not have an ongoing relationship with a client, with established protocol, then I do not respond to cold emails requesting legal representation. They all sound pretty bogus. But, even if they appeared more legitimate, I would still be highly skeptical. Most of my new client relationships have begun with a phone call or personal visit, then are followed up by written and email correspondence. Maybe I am a prude and might miss out on a legit case one day by ignoring such cold email representation requests, but I’ll take my chances.

Thanks for the info NMC.

By: Jane

Jane — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 19:57:38 +0000

Here it is:

http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202427717175

By: Jane

Jane — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 19:52:03 +0000

Didn’t some law firm in Texas fall for the scam and lose big money?