People have asked what's in it for the lawyers, and I'm not sure that anyone responded. The problem with the scam is that the scammers are offering approximately 30% of the supposed amount owed to them by their creditors, so if they go to a law firm - or a single lawyer - and say they are owed $1,865,000.00, the lawyer's fee would be over $600,000.00, for the work. Regardless of what size firm you have, that's a great fee.
Here's where the scammers get rich: Pretending to be the compliant debtor, the scammers promptly send the lawyer a forged check for what they supposedly owe. The attorney, as required by law, deposits that check into his/her Attorney Trust Account, which is strictly governed by law and is a holding account kept separate from the attorney's other monies. The Attorney Trust Account is specifically for CLIENT monies only. This is important and comes into play in a moment. It's also why it's easier than one would think to scam an attorney.
When the client presses the lawyer to send funds - say a $400,000.00 - immediately, because they need to meet an urgent payment deadline, and the attorney is told by the bank that the check has cleared, he/she may see no reason not to wire the money to the client's Asian bank account.
The moment the $400,000.00 cash hits the foreign account, they cash it out and disappear. They've won. The check issued by one of the scammers was bogus and no one will likely be able to track them down. Asian banking laws are far different from ours and dealing with multiple jurisdictions and time zones are big roadblocks.
So, where does that $400,000.00 come from? The attorney's Trust Account was just wiped out. The attorney must personally make it good immediately. Regardless of being scammed and relying on the bank's assurance that the check cleared, the attorney and/or firm is responsible to make good immediately. If, for example, someone just sold a house and the money was in the Attorney Trust Account waiting to go to the client, and that money was wiped out in the fraud, it cannot be allowed the damage the client.
One more twist as well - -
The New Jersey Law Journal ran an article on January 21, 2009, on an attorney named Martin Arbus, entitled,
"Beware of Lawyers Bearing Foreign Clients." Here's an excerpt:
"Arbus has been hearing from lawyers around the country about e-mails, purporting to be from him, that ask them to help a Chinese company collect a $700,000 debt.
The arrangement would call for all or part of the debt to be paid by check into the lawyer's trust account and for the lawyer to write a check to the "client" on the account. The only hitch: The lawyer would later learn the deposited check had bounced.
The e-mails identify Maanshan Iron & Steel Co. of Anhui, China, a real company, as Arbus' client and state his correct street address, with no telephone number and a phony e-mail address, [email protected].
They describe Maanshan as a "very credible client" based on prior representation, but they say Arbus is unable to handle the matter because it is "out of my legal jurisdiction."
The e-mails say that Arbus will be out of the office on a long vacation but that his secretary, "Sandy," reachable at [email protected], can provide contact information for Maanshan. (There is no "Sandy." Arbus' secretary is Sylvia.)
Arbus says several lawyers who contacted him said they responded to the initial contact. They got back an e-mail response supposedly sent by Zhu Changqui, a real person who is Maanshan's general manager and director. The e-mail address given, [email protected], also appears legitimate because Maanshan is owned by Magang (Group) Holding Co., of Hong Kong."The WhoIs for the fake version of Mr. Arbus' law firm, amartinlawfirm.com, when run through WhoIs.sc, returns yet another Rosepark Telecom registered name, but this time with the privacy lifted:
Registration Service Provided By: ROSEPARK TELECOM INC.
Contact: +000.0000000
Domain Name: AMARTINLAWFIRM.COM
Registrant:
Jye Tai
Jye Tai Mail (
[email protected])
480 Collge St.
Toronto
Ontario,M9A 3L4
CA
Tel. +001.9052768944
Creation Date: 07-Nov-2008
Expiration Date: 07-Nov-2009
Domain servers in listed order:
ns2.suspended-domain.com
ns1.suspended-domain.com
Administrative Contact:
Jye Tai
Jye Tai Mail (
[email protected])
480 Collge St.
Toronto
Ontario,M9A 3L4
CA
Tel. +001.9052768944
Technical Contact:
Jye Tai
Jye Tai Mail (
[email protected])
480 Collge St.
Toronto
Ontario,M9A 3L4
CA
Tel. +001.9052768944
Billing Contact:
Jye Tai
Jye Tai Mail (
[email protected])
480 Collge St.
Toronto
Ontario,M9A 3L4
CA
Tel. +001.9052768944
Status:SUSPENDED
Note: This Domain Name is Suspended.
In this status the domain name is InActive and will not function.
_______________________________________
For some reason, the fake company, Magang, is not suspended:
Registration Service Provided By: ROSEPARK TELECOM INC.
Contact: +000.0000000
Domain Name: MAGANGLTD.COM
Registrant:
PrivacyProtect.org
Domain Admin ()
P.O. Box 97
Note - All Postal Mails Rejected, visit Privacyprotect.org
Moergestel
null,5066 ZH
NL
Tel. +45.36946676
Creation Date: 07-Nov-2008
Expiration Date: 07-Nov-2009
Domain servers in listed order:
rosepark.mercury.orderbox-dns.com
rosepark.venus.orderbox-dns.com
rosepark.earth.orderbox-dns.com
rosepark.mars.orderbox-dns.com
