by Dan Pinnington

Thanks to Kerri at the CBA for bring this May 2010 Law Society of Saskatchewan fraud alert to my attention.

It provides details (including copies of the correspondence and the collaborative family law agreement) about an attempted spousal support collection fraud that targeted a Saskatchewan lawyer in May. It really jumped out at me because the collaborative family law agreement provided by the fraudster was almost exactly identical to one used for a fraud attempt against an Ontario lawyer in April this year. The fraudster, who claimed to be Karen L Clarke in Saskatchewan, used a different name in Ontario – Tanaka Sadasuke. The name of the ex-husbands and amount of support to be paid were different as well. Otherwise, everything else in the two agreements was identical, including the date it was signed and names of the two lawyers allegedly involved in negotiating the agreement – Jennifer Harper and Andrew Rosenberg.

In both cases, a reply to the fraudster’s initial email prompted further communications with the fraudster, and in the Saskatchewan fraud, a counterfeit cheque from the ex-husband. You can see the correspondence, the agreement and the bogus cheque from the Saskatchewan fraud in the Law Society of Saskatchewan bulletin.

Be alert and vigilant –fraudsters continue to target family law lawyers.

Cross posted at Slaw.ca

Categories: Fraud Prevention