#209795 by mrmu7ami Fri Jul 11, 2014 3:34 am
Attorneys are particularly susceptible to this scam because Bar ethical rules prohibit the "co-mingling" of funds in attorney trust accounts. The scam works like this: a fake client sends an email asking for the attorneys help in recovering moneys ordered by a court for alimony or child support. The client pretends to be a woman. In these cases, attorneys often do not require fees from women because the ex-husband usually pays. The client sends a fake court order. Court orders are very easy to fake because they are usually written on simple bond paper, Times Roman font with the signature of a judge. There is no need for a court seal. There are thousands of judges and no way to keep track of them. Based on the fake court order, the attorney writes a letter to the fake ex-husband (who is just a character in this scam) demanding payment. The ex-husband agrees to pay and states that he doesn't want any further legal proceedings. He sends a cashier's check to the attorney and asks that the attorney take his fee from the check and send the remainder to the fake ex-wife.

Tbe check arrives via courier and the attorney deposits it in his trust account. The bank gives immediate credit because the deposit is a cashier's check. Now, some of that money belongs to the attorney as his fee. That money cannot stay in the trust account--it must be taken out immediately. The client funds also cannot be held and so they are sent out to the fake former wife. Thirty days later the cashier's check turns out to be fake and the bank reverses the charges. The problem is that the money the bank recovers from the trust account do not belong to the attorney, they belong to legitimate clients. So there is more than one victim in this scam.

A new modality has been adopted by the scammers because law firms are starting to recognize the scam. Here's a new mail from Martin Carson <[email protected]>, which says:

"My Name is Mr. Martin Carson, i want to file lawsuits against a breaching party that failed to fulfill their contractual obligations and duties as agreed, and i need an experienced lawyer familiar with the law and advanced knowledge who can represent my company during the court proceedings. I have all elements of proof and allege facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action.

Yours Sincerely,
Martin Carson
General Manager
Pauling Industries Limited."

Just thought I'd let the forum know.
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#211808 by estelm Fri Jul 25, 2014 10:25 am
received the identical one this morning. We have a website with an email to contact us so I do not reply to anything like this that comes to my regular email. The ABA Journal has an article about scammers and law firms in the new issue.

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