Environmental cleanup lawsuit scam by Hiroyuki Ito of Daiseki Co Ltd
Date First Reported: March 2013
Primary Name Associated: Hiroyuki Ito
Description of Potential Fraud:
Three Ontario lawyers have reported receiving an email from the purported Hiroyuki Ito of Daiseki Co Ltd with regards to an environmental cleanup claim. This seems to be a new fraud scenario, and it isn’t clear yet how the fraud plays out. The email mentions requiring a firm to defend the action, though it also mentions a defaulted payment so that would seem to be where the counterfeit cheque would come in. We’ll update this post as we learn more.
From: Hiroyuki Ito [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Wednesday, March 13, 2013 9:02 AM
To:
Subject: Legal Representatives
We want to retain your service for legal matter in your Jurisdiction concerning Environmental law, kindly let me know if you are interested and I will provide more details.
Regards
Hiroyuki Ito President
Daiseki Co Ltd
1-86 Funamicho Minato-ku
Nagoya Aichi, 455-0027 Japan
Phone: 81-52-611-6322
www.daiseki.co.jp
Email: [email protected]
A lawyer who replied got this response:
Thank you very much for your response our advert company information is below, we have been hired to clear up a corrosive waste acid, since job was completed they have threaten to take legal action against our firm claiming that my company did not clear up the waste properly and since then there are still in default on payment. we would like to hire your firm for defends.
Below is the other party information that has defaulted-
Ecosse Energy Corp
8 King St E Suite 300
Toronto, ON M5C 1B5, Canada
Please forward us your retainer agreement and advise on retainer fee. we shall forward you the invoice and the job order for your review
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].
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March 20, 2013 at 12:51 pm, Kenneth D. McCall said:
I received a similar e-mail from Hiroyuki Ito of Daiseki last week. I responded by asking for further details. Mr. Ito responded by sending me an invoice for environmental cleanup work valued at $1.2 million that his company allegedly completed for America’s Natural Gas Alliance, a small Washington DC lobbying group. Mr. Ito asked for a retainer agreement, which I did not provide.
Thank you for alerting me of this fraud scheme.
Kenneth D. McCall
March 21, 2013 at 2:42 pm, Paul Manning said:
I had the same thing as Kenneth McCall. My retainer letter was returned signed with an email advising that a cheque for my retainer was being sent. The following day, I received a further email advising of the “Excellent news” that the adverse party would be sending me a cheque for just under half the outstanding invoice to avoid litigation; I should bank the cheque in my trust a/c and deduct my retainer. At this point I declined and terminated the retainer.
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