by FraudInfo

Date First Reported: October 2013

Primary Name Associated: Jyoung Josh

Description of Potential Fraud:

fraud-warning

Five U.S. lawyers have reported to us that they’ve been contacted by the purported Jyoung Josh of Ikeda Publishing Co with regards to retaining their services to collect on a breach of an IP agreement.

This is a classic bad cheque scam that presents as legal matter requiring the assistance of a lawyer. In this scam lawyers will be duped into wiring real funds from their trust accounts after depositing a fake cheque received as payment from the party in breach of the agreement (who is also part of the fraud). See our Confirmed Fraud Page for more of an explanation of how these frauds work and to see other names associated with it. Our Fraud Fact Sheet lists the red flags of a bogus legal matter that is really a fraud.

There appears to be a real company called Ikeda Publishing that is having its name improperly used in the scam.

Here is the initial contact email sent by the fraudster to the lawyer and subsequent reply:

From: NCB [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Monday, October 28, 2013 6:03 AM
To:
Subject: IP Breach

Dear Mr. William S Galkin,

Advise us of your availability to help us. We have a breach of
intellectual property agreement matter in your jurisdiction.

Yours Sincerely

Mr. Jyoung C. Josh
Ikeda Publishing Co., Ltd.
43, Bentencho, Shinjuku-ku,
Tokyo 162-0851
TEL: 03-3269-6841
Email: [email protected]
[email protected]
http://www.ikedashoten.co.jp

Replying to the email brought this response:

Thank you very much for your response. We will be happy to hire your legal firm in the pursuit of a potential case in a breach of intellectual property agreement in which our firm now seek redress.

Our client was granted an exclusive license to use and modify our Japanese language software products to create and manufacture English language versions of the Products and derivative products in the English language, and the exclusive rights to distribute the English language versions of the Products throughout USA and Canada. However, it was later uncovered that our client was equally manufacturing the German language of our product without license.

In addition, our client was equally distributing the unauthorized products within and to other regions outside USA & Canada and this is a complete violation of our agreed terms.

Below is the other party information that has defaulted-

Two Publishers & Co
9705 Shadow Oak Drive
Gaithersburg, MD 20886

The penalty claim is US$1,200,000.

We did informed them of our intention to commence legal action if they fail again in their promise to pay us the penalty payment as agreed. After the licence agreement was breached, we had a lengthy negotiation, and consequently agreed to extend payment to a deadline of August 7th,2013.

Quite unfortunately, the extended deadline has not been honored. We are very confident that the time is right to approach this matter from a legal stand point for effective collection action.

If your firm is retained, our expectation of your services for now will be within the scenario of a phone call or demand letter to our customer. Your firm will help us in collecting the debt owed.

Let us know how we may proceed with retaining your services accordingly. Do send us your retainer document for our review.

We thank you for this opportunity.

Mr. Jyoung C. Josh
Ikeda Publishing Co., Ltd.
43, Bentencho, Shinjuku-ku,
Tokyo 162-0851
TEL: 03-3269-6841
Email; [email protected]
http://www.ikedashoten.co.jp

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.