Hello. First bait...fake "attorney wanted" scam

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Not quite a Newb Joined: 08 May 2009 Posts: 26

I'm an attorney who has made most of his living taking on various scammers of the more mundane and domestic variety (phone scams, junk faxes, etc.) and I've been wanting to dip my toes into the waters of going after some of these email scammers for fun and as a public service. (Ya gotta have a hobby, right?)

I finally got one today that seemed right up my alley. Seems an import company in the U.K. (is Hong Kong still considered part of the U.K.? After all, the email address was from Yahoo's Hong Kong domain) needs an attorney to go after their past due accounts in the U.S. and my "state chamber of commerce" recommended me. Wow! How exciting! And all they want me to do is send a letter of engagement to get the ball rolling!

I've got a pretty decent plot line for this guy, but first: this doesn't look (on the surface, at least) to be a classic 419 scam, although I could be wrong. Anyone know the angle they're shooting for?

(FWIW, several attorney friends got this same email, but none of my non-attorney friends did, so it appears the scammers might have bought a list of U.S. attorneys from a lead provider.)

Posted: Fri May 08, 2009 2:12 am

You have yourself a genuine check scam.

The plot is simple--the "client" gives you the info on their debtor, who owes them a very large sum of money, but is really the scammer under another fake ID. You contact the "debtor" who-scared by the contact from an attorney-immediately turns around and sends you a check for the whole amount. The only problem is, the check is fake. But since the bank has to release funds long before the check has truly cleared, if it is a good fake check, you have sent the money to your "client" before the bank suddenly realizes it is fake and you are left holding the bag.

Here's a thread over on scamwarners about it--you can see lots of fake companies and aliases that have turned up so far...

http://scamwarners.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=1578

Posted: Fri May 08, 2009 2:18 am

Welcome on board SS

Elite Baiter Joined: 19 Jan 2008 Posts: 1043

The last scam I saw that only involved lawyers was a form of cheque scam.

A company emailed law firms asking for help regarding non payment of goods and services. A cheque for the balance is sent to the lawyer, your fees are paid from that cheque and the rest is sent back through instant money transfer.

Cheque eventually bounces, the law firm gets lumped with the balance. I think there was talk of a class action lawsuit, but I can't find the thread.

EDIT: Damn you Dorothy, that's a much better (and faster) reply than mine.

Baiting Guru Joined: 03 May 2007 Posts: 18313

Welcome ScamSlammer. As Dorothy and Newdonym mentioned, we have seen this type of scam quite a bit on ScamWarners. We also have an account of this type of scam targeting debt collection agencies posted in the news forum at Scamwarners.

Not quite a Newb Joined: 08 May 2009 Posts: 26

Does seem to be a check scam. I got a reply from my lad (See? I'm learning the lingo!), who seems to think that an attorney can just take on a new client like that, even if he's with a big firm. Tsk, tsk! We have other things to worry about, like whether it's going to be worth our time, and whether there will be conflicts of interest, and that sort of thing.

I think he needs some forms to fill out.

Anyone done a conflict of interest form for this kind of scam? I mean, I can throw one together in my spare time, but I'd rather not reinvent the wheel if I can avoid it.

The guy's IP resolves to Nigeria. (Colour me shocked!) He's using a hong kong email address, and claiming to be from Abercynon, Wales. I plan to have some fun with that last part; after all, I do have some Welsh ancestry and my character (as it turns out) has a brother who lives in Abercynon!

Is there anyone on here who lives near or has spent any time near Abercynon who might be able to provide me with some information I can (subtly, of course) quiz him on?

Posted: Fri May 08, 2009 8:37 pm

Hey ScamSlam,

While it's always horribly tempting to either correct your lad's spelling/grammar/facts etc as well as try and stump them by quizzing them on their story. You will almost certainly get dropped, especially during the early stages of the bait.
You don't ever want them to think that you're too smart to scam or are getting suspicious of them.

Just play dumb for a bit. Wink

Not quite a Newb Joined: 08 May 2009 Posts: 26

blah wrote:

Hey ScamSlam,

While it's always horribly tempting to either correct your lad's spelling/grammar/facts etc as well as try and stump them by quizzing them on their story. You will almost certainly get dropped, especially during the early stages of the bait.
You don't ever want them to think that you're too smart to scam or are getting suspicious of them.

Just play dumb for a bit. :wink:

I plan to. I'll just gradually start throwing in tidbits like, "My brother mentioned to me that [restaurant] has the best [nonsense Welsh cuisine]. Have you tried it? You should definitely check it out!"

Posted: Fri May 08, 2009 8:56 pm

Play dumb for a while, build up a real rapport with him first where he thinks you're going to fall for it...

I wouldn't worry about Abercynon actually - clearly the lad has never been there, so you don't need real details to challenge him with, in fact in our spirit of de-educating lads, make up some Anercynon landmarks (is that huge Ferris Wheel still in the middle of Sgwar Sais?) if you need them?

Welcome!

Not quite a Newb Joined: 08 May 2009 Posts: 26

Full quotes of the post directly above yours in not necessary. Use this^^instead -ghost

Good advice. I'll do that.

I hadn't really paid attention before to how many of these I get a day. I got three more nearly identical scam spams this afternoon. Well, if I tip one off too early, I've got lots of others to play with!

Posted: Sat May 09, 2009 4:25 am

Yup, even if you run out of fresh meat, there is plenty more in surplus to pick up.

De-education can be lots of fun--you can feed your lad some of the most ridiculous information, and not only will he likely believe it, but he'll gladly use that "knowledge" on the next victim, possibly causing them to scurry in the other direction.

For instance, I always want proof that birds have been rabies vaccinated, and puppies have had their Elmo's disease vaccine... And the cotton crops in Minnesota are thriving right now...you get the idea--you are limited only by your imagination and your willingness to risk losing your lad with absurdities.

Not quite a Newb Joined: 08 May 2009 Posts: 26

Sent this guy my first form today. (Do forms count as trophies only if they're sent by snail mail, or do scanned and emailed or faxed copies count?) Nice thing about a scam involving attorneys: attorneys ALWAYS require lots of paperwork up-front.

The first problem this knucklehead is going to have is that his form won't print. (Gotta love PDF security options that disable printing without explanation.) Then once I send him the "corrected" one, he'll have all kinds of problems sending it to my fax machine (because it's on legal sized paper and my fax only prints on letter-sized . . . as far as he knows . . . ). And then the problem will be that he didn't fill it out in green ink as required (what? you don't have a colour fax?). Then, once it finally gets here, the pinheads in the legal department will inform me I used an old version of the form and he'll have to re-do the whole damn thing on the latest version. (Did I mention the form specifically asks if his business involves the import or export of milli vanillis?)

Trust me; I've done Social Security claims lawsuits. I know every bureaucratic snafu that can crop up! And I'm not afraid to use them!

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