Delinquent Money Collection Scam

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From: "Mr. Peter Chan" <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Subject: Attn: Legal Counsel(Work With Us).
Date: Fri, 30 Oct 2009



ASANA WELLNESS GROUP
37-43 Sha Tsui Road,
Tsuen Wan, New Territories,
Hong Kong.

Attn: Legal Counsel,
We the management of ASANA WELLNESS GROUP requires your legal representation for our North American Customers. ASANA WELLNESS GROUP is one of
the leading Wellness Enterprises in this region. We are serving over 250,000 members offering well-created total wellness solution (categorized in
Beauty, Health and Slimming Solution), we are been owed payment on a shipment that we made to a customer in America in June 2008 and now seeking
advice and possible representation in litigation against the non-paying company. We are of the opinion that the ability to consolidate payments
from North America will eradicate delays due to inter-continental monetary transaction between the Asia and America. We understand that a proper
Attorney Client Retainer will provide the necessary authorization and we are most inclined to commence talks as soon as possible. Your
consideration of our request is highly anticipated and we look forward to your prompt response.
Sincerely,

Peter Chan (Procurement Manager)

Email: [email protected]

And another format forwarded to me:

From: HISA YAMATO [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Saturday, November 07, 2009 10:36 PM
Subject: Urgent Matters

Dear Counsel,

My name is Ms Hisa Yamato. I was married to my ex husband Felix Yamato
(who lives in your jurisdiction)for 7 yrs and in Feb 2008, We mutually
agreed under a Collaborative Participation Law Agreement to go our
separate ways.

Felix had agreed to pay me $805,000.00 under terms of the agreement so
that I can settle down and to his credit; he has paid me $105,000.00 but
with an outstanding balance of $700,000.00.I am hereby seeking your
legal assistance in collecting, the balance or helping me enforce the
agreement, and have him honor the agreement in entirety

I will be providing further information upon your request. I believe
that one of the reasons he has refused to pay is because I have
re-married.

I understand that been remarried does not automatically void the
agreement. Prior to our separation due to irreconcilable differences, we
were married for 23yrs of which by his instruction, I was a full time
house wife to carter for our four children.

Please get back if this is a case you can undertake. Let me if you
require consultation fee before you advice or look at the evidence. I am
hereby seeking your firm to assist in collecting the balance from him.
He has agreed already to pay me the balance but,it is my belief that a
Law firm like yours is needed to help me collect payment from my
ex-husband or litigate this matter if he fails to pay as promised.



Sincerely,

HISA YAMATO

I am an attorney who has collected money for Chinese clients. I have collected money from Canada. I reviewed several postings similar to one I suckered into responding to. The scam I got is different from others reported in one respect. After a cashier's check bounced a second ordinary check cleared the Royal Bank of Canada and I still have the funds which are now available. After the second check cleared I double checked with my Chinese "client," using the email address on its website, to make sure I had correct payment information. My "client" informed me they did not hire me, pointing out the email address and the officer who signed the retainer agreement were not theirs, and reported the matter to the police. I had already reported the first check to the local police, who do not seem interested in internet scams. My "client" posted a pop-down warning about the scam on its website, apparently after I first checked out the "client." The "client" appears to be a legitimate business. I do not understand how the scamer could possibly make money, unless the attorney disbursed before funds cleared and had a lot of float in the trust account.
Meanwhile, I am holding money and do not know who to return it to. I do not yet have enough information to file an interpleader action.
A copy of one of the scam emails is enclosed to inform others.

"From [email protected]
I had a meeting with my board of directors and we have agreed to do with your services as such we  request you prepare and send us a retainership agreement that is in favour of the agreed terms, so that we can be fully assured  that we are in engagement of your services.
?Kindly find useful the informations below which you need to use in preparing the retainership agreement:-
?SILKTEX CO., LTD?
No.30, Huan-Kung Road, Yung-Kang Industrial District
Tainan Hsien 71041
Taiwan
?CONTACT PERSON : CHANG MING CHENG?DESIGNATION:     MANAGER.
 As soon as we recieve  this  retainership agreement which we will sign and return, we will immediately forward  to you contact details of our deliquent clients so that you can commence communication with them
Thank you. ?Best Regards
?CHANG MING CHENG?
Manager"

FOLLOW-UP 12-05-09
The check was returned as Counterfeit after sitting in the trust account as available funds for several days. What a risky situation. Filing an impleader action is not an adequate remedy because you don't even know who the true owner of the funds might be. I suppose you could file an impleader action against someone and wait until hell freezes over while holding the money. I ignored anxious importunes to disburse the money. I received no response from my inquiry to the maker of the check, it just finally bounced.
laclaw

Hi laclaw and welcome.

What likely happened in your case is that rather than a fraudulent check that had fictitious information on it, it is a forged check on a stolen account. The money in your account probably belongs to the legitimate owner of the bank account it was drawn on, who is not the scammer. You should be able to find this out through your bank so that the account owner can be notified. This is one of the ways that check scams work. The checks will initially clear and it will take some time for the stolen account owner to realize that the information is being used for fraudulent checks. Once all of the wheels turn, however, you will be asked to return the money and be responsible for doing so.

The way the scammer makes money is that he plays all of the roles in the transaction. He is both the debtor and debtee. Any monies you collect and send to him are profit to him from the scam.

Thank you for posting your information here. As you can see, these scams can be rather sophisticated. Do follow up with your bank and/or law enforcement so that any other victim to this scam (stolen account owner) can be helped.

Welcome laclaw!

Like Jullian said, the check is drawn on a real account and the money is probably in that account. Banks may only check that info if they have no reason to suspect a forgery. The money is not in your account to stay obviously. And yes, the scammers have made millions from this.

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

http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202424058323

Local police have little interest in Nigerian scams. Write me at the address below and I'll send you in the right direction.

Bill

And another new format:

From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Monday, November 23, 2009 11:38 AM
Subject: COLLECTION:



Dear Counsel,

We wish to retain your services to facilitate in the retrieval of delinquent accounts and holdings from our customers in United States. These accounts have been delinquent for a while. We have been able to give a credit period of 5 months, which started on the month of February in the year 2009 due to global economic hard times. Before requesting payments, we would like for the accounts to be mediated and closed before the end of the incoming quarter. We believe that all owed funds to our company will be made payable contingent upon acquiring the assistance of your office.
We would like to receive your retainer agreement, rates and all other essential material regarding your firm's compensation policies. These, and all other material can be communicated to me at [email protected].





Company: GP Industries LTD/Gold Peak group
Address: 97 pioneer Rd, Singapore 639579
Tel- (65) 6395-0850
Fax- (65) 6396-0860
E-mail: [email protected]

FYI, the Washington State Bar just sent a warning by email to its members. Other states ought to do likewise, if they haven't already.

An alert to WSBA members:

The WSBA continues to receive reports of Internet check-cashing scams targeting lawyers. In some instances, identities of Washington lawyers have been used without authority. If you receive an e-mail purporting to be from a Washington lawyer and/or seeking assistance transferring or wiring checks, we suggest that you direct your concerns to the Internet Crime Complaint Center (a partnership between the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the National White Collar Crime Center, and the Bureau of Justice Assistance) through its online service (http://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx), and/or the Washington State Attorney General’s Office by mail at 800 Fifth Ave., Ste. 2000, Seattle, WA 98104-3188, by telephone at 1-800-551-4636, or online (http://www.atg.wa.gov/FileAComplaint.aspx).

If you believe the scam involves misconduct by a Washington lawyer, please contact the WSBA Consumer Affairs line at 206-727-8207 or 800-945-9722, ext. 8207.

For more information, see the article in the September 2009 Bar News, “Check-cashing Schemes Target Lawyers”: http://www.wsba.org/media/publications/ ... chemes.htm.

Good for them. The California Bar Journal did an article about this a few months ago. They contacted me for information for the article. The lawyer whose name was used in the scam posted on this thread and one of our members is the person who got the site suspended by its hoster for her.

The article is here: http://calbar.ca.gov/state/calbar/calba ... 0Headlines

That is indeed great news and more state bars should do that.

A warning was issued to the ABA almost a year ago for distribution to state chapters, I think it's on page 1 of this thread. It was never distributed and now we are looking at over $50m in losses.

Another example of this type of scam. I believe this is the second instance reported of a scammer claiming to represent "Toho Tecknology" in this thread. It's still a scam and the script is almost identical.

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From: "JUN MICHEAL" <[email protected]>
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Subject: ATTENTION:COUNSELLOR
Date: Sun, 22 Nov 2009 04:55:50 +0800
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Attention: Counselor,

We, the management of Toho Tecknology (H.K.)Co Ltd., require your legal
representation for our North American Customers. We are of the opinion that
the ability to consolidate payments from North America will eradicate delays
due to inter-continental monetary transaction between Asia and North
America .

We understand that a proper Attorney Client Retainer will provide the
necessary authorization and we are most inclined to commence talks as soon as
possible.Your consideration of our request is highly anticipated and we look
forward to your prompt response to Email:[email protected]

Sincerely,
Jun Micheal

Hi folks, I got one of these too.

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From: "Mr. William Rueyfa"<[email protected]>
Subject: Urgent Inquiry
Date: Fri, 27 Nov 2009 10:57:58 -0000
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and the email:

We want to retain your services to counsel in the litigation and retrieval of all delinquent accounts from our customers. These accounts have been delinquent for a while and we have been lenient enough to give a credit period before requesting payments but failing, we have not received any notice in regard to when funds will be remitted to us. Therefore, we want to take it to the next step and have their office be aware of a litigation file in process. We believe that all owed funds to our company will be made payable contingent upon acquiring the assistance of your office. We would like to further discuss this together before making arrangements to receive your retainer agreement, rates and all other essential material regarding your firm's policies. Please consult us for further information needed in regard to the case and I have to emphasize on the urgency to arbitrate these cases.

We look forward to your reply

Sincerely,

William Rueyfa

Ruey fa Tex Enterprise Co Ltd.

For informaton :-
IP address 83.143.10.89 resolves to Lagos, Nigeria

Welcome John!

And another forwarded to me by a lawyer. Notice the UK number starts with 44-70xxxxxxxx. This is a redirect and a sure sign of a scammer.

From: John Thuan Xuan <[email protected]>
To: undisclosed-recipients <undisclosed-recipients:;>
Sent: Wed Dec 02 02:30:30 2009
Subject: Legal Representation

Olympus Imaging, Hong Kong
Office Tower, Langham Place,
8 Argyle Street, Mongkok,
Kowloon, Hong Kong.


Attn: Legal Counsel

We the management of Olympus Imaging require your legal representation for our North American Customers. We are manufacturer and supplier of essential imaging products such as digital cameras, lenses etc. We are been owed payment on a shipment that we made to a customer in America in June 2008 and now seeking advice and possible representation in litigation against this non-paying customer.

We are of the opinion that the ability to consolidate payments from North America will eradicate delays due to inter-continental monetary transaction between the Europe and America, we understand that a proper Attorney Client Retainer will provide the necessary authorization and we are most inclined to commence talks as soon as possible.

Your consideration of our request is highly anticipated and we look forward to your prompt response.

Sincerely,

Mr. John Thuan Xuan
Tel: +447035990879
Fax: +448447744420

Laclaw wrote:

FOLLOW-UP 12-05-09
The check was returned as Counterfeit after sitting in the trust account as available funds for several days. What a risky situation.

And that is why these scams work.

Hi,

Here's what I was sent as a lawyer and to me it carries (most) of the hallmarks of this type of scam.

I did not reply and am posting this here in the hope of helping others identify such emails.

From: Geoffrey Cox <[email protected]>
Subject: Legal representation in ....

Good morning to you, please confirm the receipt of this mail if you are in a position to represent our company in matters of delinquent accounts.

We contact you to represent our company after a careful review of your profile. We are of the opinion that you represent us in ... in order for us to recover monies due to our organization by our .... clients.
In order to achieve these objectives a good and reputable law firm like yours will be required to handle this service. Please advice on your takes in this issue. Once more thank you for taking time from your busy schedule to read this mail.

I await your response.
Regards,
Geoffrey Cox.
Kung Kee Steel Pte Ltd.
11 Jalan Buroh,
Jurong Town
Singapore 619475.
Tel: +65-3108-0655
Fax: +65-6491-5314.

Keep up the good work and community spirit!