Delinquent Money Collection Scam

Just a note to anyone reading this who isn't familiar with Scambaiting. B8er is very fully aware of the scam and has no intention of making any real payments. He is corresponding with the scammer using all fake information in order to gain intel.

I've had another email forwarded to me by a reader of the forum. Again, it is regarding Matila Manufacturing and referencing the website. If anyone reading this has more direct evidence, please do post it here or send it to [email protected].

From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Monday, June 01, 2009 9:47 AM
To: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Subject: Website Contact

Contact Information Submitted Monday 1st of June 2009 10:47:01 AM

Lawyer:
Name: Patrick Chan
Address:
City:
State:
Zip:
Phone:
Fax:
Email: [email protected]
Contact: By email
Comments: Attention Counsel: I have previously sent you an email; please
confirm the receipt of this mail due to the urgency of this matter. If
you are not in position to represent us at the moment kindly advice
immediately. After a careful review, we decided to contact you to
represent our company in North America. Matila Manufacturing Pte Ltd is
a manufacturing company in Asia. For further details check our website:
http://www.matila-tw.com We would require your legal representation for our
North American delinquent Customers. We are of the opinion that a
reputable attorney is required to represent us in North America in order
for us to recover monies due to our organization by overseas customers,
and as well follow up with these accounts. In order to achieve these
objectives a good and reputable law firm like yours will be required to
handle this service. We understand that a proper Attorney Client
agreement must be entered into by both parties. This will be done
immediately we receive your letter of acceptance. Awaiting Response.
Yours Faithfully, Patrick Chan Matila Manufacturing Company 45 Tuas
Avenue, 9 Iindustrial Estate, Jurong, Singapore 639197 http://www.matila-tw.com

I am an attorney whose identity has been used for one of these referral scams. It started a week ago, and I'm at wits end trying to stop it. I've heard from attorneys all over the country who have gotten emails from a scammer purporting to be me. Beside signing my name, the scammer apparently purchased a domain name that is very much like my real name.

I've alerted my state bar, local law enforcement, the FTC, etc., but no one can/will do anything. I have determined via whois that the domain name owner's identity is protected by a Dutch company called privacy.protect.org. I have registered a complaint about the fraudulent use of the domain name, but haven't heard anything back from privacy.protect.org. Do you have any advice for me? Any suggestions would be most appreciated.

[AlanJones]

Hi janafh, welcome to ScamWarners.

We may well be able to assist you in getting the domain shut down as we have a fair amount of expertise in removing fraudulent websites.

We will need some information about the domain that has been set up (i.e. the domain name and any email addresses that are being used alongside it) and if possible copies of emails linking the domain to the scam. If you can also get the headers for the email that will also assist.

The more information that you can give the more chance we have of getting it shut down.

If you don't want to post the details here, then you can either PM them to me or to one of the support team (the members with the coloured names) if you would prefer.

Hi janafh and welcome. I'm sorry to hear of your plight. As B8er has mentioned, we have resources for getting fraudulent sites suspended. Please do supply us with any information you have.

As far as getting the scammer to stop using your name, that may not be possible, unfortunately.

Here's the information I have:

The email sent out under my name is as follows. The first batch went out on May 26; the second on May 31 and June 1:

-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Monday, June 01, 2009 10:33 PM
To: xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Referral from The Law office of Jana H Aagaard

Good day

I have a very good client of mine that may need legal representation in the
United States of America.
I have represented Mr.Yong Do Huh the President and Chief Executive Officer of
Taewoong Co., Ltd. previously.

I will not be able to represent him on this particular case because it is not in
my jurisdiction.
I'll also be on a personal leave of absence as of Friday the 5th of June and I
will like you to review this case for possible representation.
The case is in regards to outstanding payment but I doubt if it will go as far
as litigation.

I will not be in the office but you may email my Secretary (Anna boise)at
[email protected] and she will provide the contact information for
my client to enable you establish direct communication.

Let me know your position A.S.A.P. referral


Thank You
Jana H Aagaard
_________________________

Attorneys in NY, CO, ID, MS, OK, UT and CA have called me to check on the authenticity of the email. Most who called suspected it was bogus; some were quite sure it was bogus and simply wanted to alert me.

One attorney who contacted me had received a variant:

-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Tuesday, May 26, 2009 6:03 PM
To: xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Reference Law office from Jana H Aagaard

Reference from Jana H Aagaard

Attention:Michael Norton
We have reference from Law office of Jana H Aagaard and we are thankful for your
willingness to look into our case.

We request your representation to enable us collect a debt owed to us by a
delinquent customer.

We do appreciate your time in reviewing our request and we will do
everything possible to insure a smooth and hitch free business relationship.

We are ready to work with you to achieve our goal as the importance of your
services cannot be over emphasized.

We understand the importance of retaining your services accordingly and we
will provide all necessary documentation and information in that regard.

We understand your request for more information and we will not relent in
providing information as they deem necessary.

We are of the opinion that once our presence is established in your state
via a legal representative our customer will have no option but comply
with payment request to avoid legal action and litigation.

We believe that a normal scenario will require a phone call or demand letter
from you to our delinquent customer if your services is retained. We believe
that litigation should be applied as a last resort as we intend
to preserve the relationship we have with our customer after payment is made.

We do not intend to resort to litigation unless all other options are exhausted
but we will like the comfort of knowing that the option is available and
letting our customer know that litigation may be enforced if the option
becomes necessary.

We understand the concept of running a conflict check that is why we are
providing our delinquent customer located in your state for your
conflict check and to enable you present to us your retainer agreement for your
services.

Colorado Equipment Llc
1100 E Cheyenne Rd, Colorado Springs,
CO 80905-2829

This particular customer owes approx. $550 700.00 and the payment is
overdue as our regular sale agreement requires customers to effect payment not
later than 30 days upon delivery or legal action maybe enforced if payment delay
exceeds 90 days. Delivery for this customer was made in October of 2008
and our calculation shows that payment is about 7 months late.

The customer confirmed delivery of shipment in good condition.
It will be very helpful if we receive your standard retainer agreement before
noon on Thursday the 7th your time. This will enable our board decide on the
conditions
if the retainer in our next board meeting.

We thank you for your business as we look forward to your prompt response.

Sincerely

Yong Do Huh
Taewoong Co., Ltd.
1462-1 Songjung-Dong Gangseo-Gu
Pusan, 604-050
South Korea
_________________________________________

The WhoIs information about the domain name is as follows:

Registration Service Provided By: ROSEPARK TELECOM INC.
Contact: +000.0000000

Domain Name: LAWOFFICESJAAGAARD.COM

Registrant:
PrivacyProtect.org
Domain Admin ([email protected])
P.O. Box 97
Note - All Postal Mails Rejected, visit Privacyprotect.org
Moergestel
null,5066 ZH
NL
Tel. +45.36946676
Creation Date: 23-May-2009
Expiration Date: 23-May-2010
Domain servers in listed order:
rosepark.mars.orderbox-dns.com
rosepark.earth.orderbox-dns.com
rosepark.venus.orderbox-dns.com
rosepark.mercury.orderbox-dns.com
Administrative Contact:
PrivacyProtect.org
Domain Admin ([email protected])
P.O. Box 97
Note - All Postal Mails Rejected, visit Privacyprotect.org
Moergestel
null,5066 ZH
NL
Tel. +45.36946676
Technical Contact:
PrivacyProtect.org
Domain Admin ([email protected])
P.O. Box 97
Note - All Postal Mails Rejected, visit Privacyprotect.org
Moergestel
null,5066 ZH
NL
Tel. +45.36946676
Billing Contact:
PrivacyProtect.org
Domain Admin ([email protected])
P.O. Box 97
Note - All Postal Mails Rejected, visit Privacyprotect.org
Moergestel
null,5066 ZH
NL
Tel. +45.36946676
Status:ACTIVE

PRIVACYPROTECT.ORG is providing privacy protection services to this domain name to
protect the owner from spam and phishing attacks. PrivacyProtect.org is not
responsible for any of the activities associated with this domain name. If you wish
to report any abuse concerning the usage of this domain name, you may do so at
http://privacyprotect.org/contact. We have a stringent abuse policy and any
complaint will be actioned within a short period of time.

The data in this whois database is provided to you for information purposes only,
that is, to assist you in obtaining information about or related
to a domain name registration record. We make this information available "as is",
and do not guarantee its accuracy. By submitting a whois query, you agree that you will
use this data only for lawful purposes and that, under no circumstances will you use this
data to:
(1) enable high volume, automated, electronic processes that stress
or load this whois database system providing you this information; or
(2) allow, enable, or otherwise support the transmission of mass unsolicited,
commercial advertising or solicitations via direct mail, electronic mail, or by telephone.
The compilation, repackaging, dissemination or other use of this data is expressly
prohibited without
prior written consent from us. The Registrar of record is Directi Internet Solutions Pvt.
Ltd. d/b/a PublicDomainRegistry.com.
We reserve the right to modify these terms at any time.
By submitting this query, you agree to abide by these terms.
__________________________________________________________

I do have one header, supplied to me by a helpful attorney who received the spam email. I'd rather not post it here publicly, but I'll send it privately if you'd like. I have asked for and received (via forwarding) quite a few of the emails received by the attorneys around the country.

Again, if you have any advice about how I can work fruitfully toward stopping this, please let me know.

Jana

Mod edit: removed email addresses of recipients of scam emails -Jillian

[AlanJones]

Hi Jana,

The good news is that the company used to register the domains are very receptive to our reports of fraudulent activity and act very quickly to remove these domains.

Could I ask you to PM me the headers that you have (you can remove the details of the lawyer that it was sent to). Could you also PM me your firm's email address. I won't release either of these publicly, but I would like to provide them to the registrar so that they verify with you if necessary that the domain is not related to you.

Edit: I've also just noticed the other fraudulent domain (taewoongltd.com), which I will also report.

Hi Jana thank you for posting this information.

I posted this advice earlier in the thread, I hope it helps. click here

If it is of use - please forward the link to any that would benefit.

Another email forwarded by a reader of the forum, different fake company this time, Malaysia Steel Works.

From: Malaysia Steel Works [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Tuesday, June 02, 2009 7:32 AM
To: undisclosed-recipients:
Subject: Request For Legal/Lawyer Services In USA!!!

Delinquent Account
Services In USA.

This is an official requisition for your legal consultation services on
behalf of Malaysia Steel Works(KL),Berhad, Malaysia. We are based in
Malaysia and our principal activities are the manufacture and sale of iron
and steel products. The production process of the Group mainly comprises
cooking, sintering, iron smelting, steel smelting and rolling.

The principal steel products come in four major categories: steel sections,
wire rods, medium or thick steel plates and train wheels and tyres. We
imports machinery and raw materials and exports steel products. We are
involved in the planning and designing of automation system, metallurgical,
construction and environmental protection projects. Other activities include
purchase, installation and repair of computers and communications systems;
production, sale.

We are presently incapacitated due to international legal boundaries to
exert pressure on our delinquent customers in USA and up North. Hence, we
request for your services accordingly in this regards.

We got your contact information from the USA lawyers Directory as a result
of our search for a reliable firm or individual to provide legal services as
requested. After a careful review of your profile as well as your
qualification and experience, we are of the opinion that you are capable and
qualified to provide the legal services as requested. Please accept my
sincerest appreciation on behalf of Malaysia Steel Works(KL),Berhad,
Malaysia,in advance for your willingness to render your services as we look
forward to your prompt response to our request.

Sincerely

Mr Chan Huan Kheng
Head of Export/Sales,
For:Malaysia Steel Works(KL),Berhad.
+60 172 867 080

Aletheia Patrick <[email protected]>
reply-to [email protected]
to
date Sat, May 30, 2009 at 11:50 AM
subject Dear Counsel,...Mutual Introduction-Possible Representation

Reply

Follow up message
Mutual Introduction-Possible Representation

Dear Counsel,

I have previously sent you an email; please confirm the receipt of this mail due to the urgency of this matter. If you are not in position to represent us at
the moment kindly advice immediately.

After a careful review, we decided to contact you to represent our company in North America. Matila Manufacturing Pte Ltd is a manufacturing company in Asia We would require your legal representation for our North American delinquent Customers.

We are of the opinion that a reputable attorney is required to represent us in North America in order for us to recover monies due to our organization by oversea customers, and as well follow up with these accounts. In order to achieve these objectives a good and reputable law firm like yours will be required to handle this service. We understand that a proper Attorney Client agreement must be entered into by both parties. This will be done immediately we receive your letter of acceptance.

Awaiting your swift Response.

Sincerely,
Aletheia Patrick
Robert Weng

---

from qiming wang <[email protected]>
to [email protected]
date Mon, Apr 6, 2009 at 12:22 PM
subject REQUEST FOR LEGAL ASSISTANCE
mailed-by gmail.com

hide details Apr 6


Reply

Follow up message

From: Mr. Qiming Wang.
Legal Representative/Owner,
Quanzhou Haitian Textile Co.,Ltd,
Address: Haitian Industrial Park,
Jiangnan Development Zone,
Quanzhou, Fujian
China.
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.htt.cn

Dear Sir,


Request for Legal assistance.


This is an official request for legal representation on behalf of Quanzhou Haitian Textile Co.,Ltd. We are a textile company with principal business in garment manufacturing and trading.

We are presently incapacitated due to international legal boundaries to exert pressure on our delinquent customers and we request for your services accordingly. We got your contact information from the Online Lawyers Directory as a result of our search for a reliable firm or individual to provide legal services as requested.

After a careful review of your profile as well as your qualification and experience, we are of the opinion that you are capable and qualified to provide the legal services as requested.

On behalf of Quanzhou Haitian Textile Co.,Ltd, Please accept my sincerest appreciation in advance for your willingness to render your services as we look forward to your prompt response to our request.


Thank you.
Mr. Qiming Wang.
Legal Representative/Owner,
Quanzhou Haitian Textile Co.,Ltd.
Website: http://www.htt.cn

--end--

Welcome to Scamwarners. I take it that you received that email, and didn't fall for it.
http://www.htt.cn/ appears to be a genuine website.

Registration Date: 2003-03-17 13: 53
Expiration Date: 2012-03-17 13: 53

Bogus websites tend to be set up for the minimum 12 months. There's no point is paying for a longer period as scam sites are usually closed quickly. This scam format isn't as old as 2003.

[AlanJones]

As Arnold says, the website http://www.htt.cn/ is a real site for a legitimate business, who are totally unconnected to this scam.

Scammers will do one of two things to add authenticity to their scam. Firstly, they will piggyback the website of the legitimate business that they are pretending to be (as in this case). A give away in these cases will be the email address that they are using. If you visit the site and look at the contact page, you will see that all the email addresses are htt.cn addresses - so why would they need to email you using a gmail address?

The other way that the scammers can go is to register a similar sounding domain name and basically copy the whole of the legitimate site. In this case, the emails may well come from the fraudulent domain, so it is a bit harder to tell that it is a scam. However, there are ways:

• Do a search on the Company name - you will probably find that the first site listed will be the company's real site, which will have a slightly different domain name to the one that has been contacting you.
• Check the registration details - if the domain has only recently been registered and is only registered for a one year period then it is likely fake.

Another thing that the scammers will do to add authenticity to their scam is use real companies as the debtors. So anyone making a quick search will see the company name and believe that this is a legitimate case that they are being asked to undertake.

If you do find yourself in the unforunate position of responding to one of these scammers, what will happen is the following;

• You will provide the scammer with your Terms of Engagement and he will tell you that he is going to collate all of the information that you need to approach the debtor.
• A few days later, the scammer will get back in touch with you and surprise surprise, the debtor has agreed to pay the debt without you needing to contact them (because obviously, the scammer doesn't want you writing to the real company who will deny any knowledge of the debt).
• In addition to agreeing to pay, it will have been decided between the scammer and the debtor (who are actually the same person) that the payment should be made via the Lawyer. So the cheque will be sent to you for you to pay into your client account.
• You will then be told to deduct your retainer and forward the balance to the scammer.

Of course the cheque is fake and the money will eventually be debited from your account, leaving you with a large shortfall in your account.

If you have received a cheque from an aleged debtor without having to do any work to get it, and you are still unsure whether it is fake or not then find the telephone number of the debtor from Yellow Pages (do not use any number supplied to you by the scammer - it will be fake) and speak to their accounts department. You will soon find that they have no idea what you are talking about.

Here's another variation on this theme. I received it last week. It looked like a scam, so I did not bother to reply, but I saw it this evening as I was going through my emails. A quick search brought me here. What a great website!


From:
Chan Liu
Date:
Thursday, May 28, 2009 1:30am

Subject:
RE: Lawyer Directory Client Inquiry

We have been able to establish that delinquent or past due accounts in about five states in the U.S, running over $2,850,506 and about a year or more over due in some cases.

There has been no complaints made about our products, no payment has been made with several previous attempt to make collection in these accounts ending negatively Motor Electric Manufacturing Company Ltd., would have been settled if we had a reputable lawyer/ firm representing our organization in collections or possible law suit, hence Motor Electric Manufacturing Company Ltd.is willing to maintain an evergreen retainer ship fee of $25,000US, to demonstrate to you, we are ready to work with you on collections on delinquent accounts.

At this moment it will not be proper for me to provide you with list of delinquent accounts or the copy of typical contract/copies of invoices until there is client–attorney engagement / relationship.

Below are the areas we would require your expertise.

Provide legal consultation, collections of delinquent accounts, required representation / bring actions in court against the delinquent customers based on agreed amount per hour or percentage on collection made.

Please accept my sincerest appreciation for your willingness to render your services, as we look forward to your prompt response to my email. If you have any questions contact me personally anytime by email.

Best Regards,

Liu Chan



Yahoo!???????????????????!????

Thanks for posting, altamira! I'm glad you found us. If you could add the email address the scammer is using to the information that is helpful as well.

I've seen several recent cases where the scammers are using a debtor company that is actually located in the same city or town as the lawyer. This is pretty bold, and unfortunately makes the scam much more believable.

X-Apparently-To: via 69.147.64.34; Fri, 10 Apr 2009 03:33:32 -0700
X-Originating-IP: [66.196.127.213]
Authentication-Results: mta134.sbc.mail.re3.yahoo.com from=aol.com; domainkeys=neutral (no sig); from=aol.com; dkim=neutral (no sig)
Received: from 207.115.20.155 (EHLO flpi115.prodigy.net) (207.115.20.155)
by mta134.sbc.mail.re3.yahoo.com with SMTP; Fri, 10 Apr 2009 03:33:32 -0700
X-Originating-IP: [66.196.127.213]
Received: from mta103.biz.mail.re3.yahoo.com (mta103.biz.mail.re3.yahoo.com [66.196.127.213])
by flpi115.prodigy.net (8.13.8 inb ipv6 jeff0203/8.13. with SMTP id n3AAXTUG012920
for <>; Fri, 10 Apr 2009 03:33:29 -0700
X-Originating-IP: [80.12.242.50]
Authentication-Results: mta103.biz.mail.re3.yahoo.com from=aol.com; domainkeys=neutral (no sig); from=aol.com; dkim=neutral (no sig)
Received: from 80.12.242.50 (EHLO smtp23.orange.fr) (80.12.242.50)
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Received: from smtp23.orange.fr (mwinf2323 [10.232.4.123])
by mwinf2305.orange.fr (SMTP Server) with ESMTP id A38BE1C009C9
for ; Fri, 10 Apr 2009 12:33:23 +0200 (CEST)
Received: from User (96.sub-75-209-225.myvzw.com [75.209.225.96])
by mwinf2323.orange.fr (SMTP Server) with ESMTP id CE3A0700008A;
Fri, 10 Apr 2009 12:30:43 +0200 (CEST)
X-ME-UUID: [email protected]
Reply-To: <[email protected]>
From: "Malaysia Steel Work (KL) Berhad" <[email protected]>
Subject: Delinquent account services in USA.
Date: Fri, 10 Apr 2009 11:33:16 +0100
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain;
charset="Windows-1251"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
X-Priority: 3
X-MSMail-Priority: Normal
X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2600.0000
X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2600.0000
Message-Id: <[email protected]>
To: undisclosed-recipients:;

Delinquent account services in USA.

This is an official requisition for your legal consultation services on behalf of Malaysia Steel Work (KL) Berhad.
We are based in Malaysia and our principal activity is manufacture and sale of iron and steel products. The production process of the Group mainly comprises cooking, sintering, iron smelting, steel smelting and rolling. The principal steel products come in four major categories: steel sections, wire rods, medium or thick steel plates and train wheels and tyres. It imports machinery and raw materials and exports steel products. It is also involved in the planning and designing of automation system, metallurgical, construction and environmental protection projects. Other activities include purchase, installation and repair of computers and communications systems; production, sale and transportation of slag products and provision of related consultation and technology services. We are presently incapacitated due to international legal boundaries to exert pressure on our delinquent customers in USA and we request for your services accordingly.
We got your contact information from the state of USA lawyers Directory as a result of our search for a reliable firm or individual to provide legal services as requested. After a careful review of your profile as well as your qualification and experience, we are of the opinion that your are capable and qualified to provide the legal services as requested.Please accept my sincerest appreciation on behalf of Malaysia Steel Work (KL) Berhad,in advance for your willingness to render your services as we look forward to your prompt response to our request.

Thank you.
Mr.Zhu Changqiu
Executive,
Malaysia Steel Work (KL) Berhad