by FraudInfo

Date First Reported: October 2012

Primary Name Associated: Akita Ogasawara

Description of Potential Fraud:

fraud-warning

Six lawyers in Canada and the US have notified us that they have received an email from the purported Akita Ogasawara of Alpha Electronics Corp with regards to a commercial debt litigation scam. For examples of other names attached to this kind of fraud see our Confirmed Fraud Page. For an explanation of how this fraud works see our Fraud Fact Sheet.

Here is the initial email:

From: Alpha Electronics Corp
To: lawyer name
Date: 19/10/2012 07:18 PM
Subject: Legal Counsel

Subject: Legal Counsel
I am Akita Ogasawara and I am the Accounts Officer at Alpha Electronics Corp. The management of Alpha Electronics Corp. requires your legal counsel in helping us seek redress from our debtor in your region who owe us money and breached our purchase agreement. Looking forward to reading from you.

Akita Ogasawara
Accounting Officer,
Alpha Electronics Corp.
2-18, Ikenohata I-chome, Taito-ku,
Tokyo ZIP 110-0008 EMAIL: [email protected]
Tel: +81-368635403

How to handle a real or suspected fraud

If you have been targeted by any of these frauds, please forward any of the emails and supporting documents that you have received to [email protected].

If you suspect you are acting on a matter that might be a fraud, call LAWPRO at 1-800-410-1013 (416-598-5899). We will talk you through the common fraud scenarios we are seeing and help you spot red flags that may indicate you are being duped. This will help you ask appropriate questions of your client to determine if the matter is legitimate or not. If the matter you are acting on turns out to be a fraud and there is a potential claim, we will work with you to prevent the fraud and minimize potential claims costs.

If you have been successfully duped, please immediately notify LAWPRO as there may be a claim against you.

For more immediate updates on fraud and claims prevention, subscribe to the email or RSS feed updates from LAWPRO’s AvoidAClaim blog.

Fraud Fact Sheet More fraud prevention information and resources are available on the practicePRO Fraud page, including the Fraud Fact Sheet, a handy reference for lawyers and law firm staff that describes the common frauds and the red flags that can help identify them.