by FraudInfo

Date First Reported: July 2012

Primary Name Associated: Keith Rennie

Description of Potential Fraud:

fraud-warning

An Ontario lawyer received an email from the purported Keith Rennie of RG Wire & Cable Ltd 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:

On Mon, Jul 9, 2012 at 11:17 AM, Keith Rennie wrote:

we need a breach of contract lawyer to handel our matter.if this is your area of practice, please contact us to
provide you with further information.
regards
keith rennie

When the lawyer replied he got this response and fake documentation:

From: Keith Rennie
Date: Mon, Jul 9, 2012 at 2:47 PM
Subject: RE REPRESENTATION
To: Lawyer Name

Dear,

How are you today? We would like to Thank you for your response to our inquiry for legal services.RG Wire & Cable Ltd, is a private limited company founded in February 2006.We provide recognized industry standard and custom built cable types covering many applications across a wide market range.

However,We wish to inform you that we would be needing your firms legal help to assist us with a breach of contract matter and also retrieve funds owed to our company.We ordered goods from WESCO Distribution Inc and was asked to make a 50% down payment before goods will be delivered to us and that we did and up till date no goods were delivered nor was a refund made.We hereby seek legal help from your firm to help us collect this money owed to our company as we do not wish to go any further with the said transaction. We have made several previous attempts to collect these funds which all ended negatively.We are aware that a conflict search will
need to be done.Please find below details of the owing company.

Here is the name of our supplier for your conflict check of interest- WESCO Distribution Inc
Toronto (Datacom)
475 Hood Road
Markham, ON L3R0S8 CAN

In this email you will find attached contract,copy of invoice,copy of proof of payment for your perusal.We are prepared to pay a reasonable retainer fee for this service as soon as our board gets to review the terms of your engagement letter.So please have that sent to my attention via email if this is a case you are willing to
handle.

We would want your firm to Provide legal assistance, collect funds owed to us and bring actions in court against WESCO Distribution Inc,if the need be,We look forward to your prompt response to our email.we wanted to also inform you that the said funds owed to us has caused a great strain on our company’s operational capital and want this issue resolved.We would like to know a few things about your firm and also how this case would be handled.Find our concerns and questions below.

1. Have you handled cases like mine? Do you have a track record of success?

2. What course of action would you recommend for my business dispute?

3. What are the strengths and weaknesses of my case?

4. Do you have extensive experience in cases like mine?

5. Will you be handling my case personally?

6. How do your fees work?

7. How long have you been in practice?

8. How strong is my case and what are the possible outcomes?

9. How long do you think it will take to resolve this matter?

10.How often will you communicate with me about my case status?

11.Will you plan to pursue a settlement or fight for a court date? What about arbitration?

12.Who else in your office will work on our case?

13.What are our responsibilities in this case?

14.Will you work on a contingency basis?

However,if you are able to help us with legal services do have your retainer agreement prepared and forwarded to us for proper review of your terms and conditions to know if we can employ your services as time is of essence and we would want this issue to be resolved ASAP.

If you have any questions contact me personally anytime by email or phone which you would find details at my signature block.

Best Regards,

Keith Rennie
Director
RG Wire & Cable Limited
67 Cavendish Way Southfield
Industrial Estate Glenrothes
Fife KY6 2SB,United Kingdom
TEL:+44 70457 09732
Fax:+44 1592 775822
[email protected]

Rennie Wesco Contract
Rennie funds transfer
Rennie demand letter

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.

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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.