Separation agreement scam by Hanako Simmons
Date First Reported: June 2013
Primary Name Associated: Hanako Simmons
Description of Potential Fraud:
Over 80 lawyers in the U.S. have notified us that they were contacted by the purported Hanako Simmons with regards to a to a collaborative family law agreement dispute. This is a fraud we have seen before under several other names and similar scenarios. 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: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Monday, June 17, 2013 11:08 AM
Subject: Child Support
Dear Counsel,
I wish to file a case against my ex-spouse for failure to make court ordered
payments of Child, spousal and medical support. Please reply via:
[email protected]
Regards,
Ms Simmons
A lawyer who replied got this response and fake documentation:
Thank you for your prompt response. Sorry for the delay. Am in Japan for an assignment and Konami Simmons (ex spouse) lives in Durham, North Carolina. Due to the time difference (+13hrs EST) it is a little bit difficult to determine the best time to call you. Following our divorce, we agreed under a negotiated settlement agreement which is incorporated, merged into and made part of the court decree for a onetime cash settlement of $557,000.00USD for Family support (this includes child support, alimony and medical support). To his credit, he has paid me $208,000.00USD from a total of $557,000.00 but still owing $349.000.00USD and the due time for completion of payment is over. Thus, I request your legal counsel and representation to enforce the final judgment thereby compelling him to remit the balance owed me. He is aware of my intention to seek legal actions. Attached is a copy of the separation agreement, and Final Judgment and I will be pleased to provide further information on this case on request. I desire to retain your law firm, please forward your firm’s retainer fee agreement so that we can proceed. Thank you and have a pleasant day.
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.
July 02, 2013 at 6:10 am, Jeri Elliott said:
Make that 41 attorneys contacted by this scam artist. I am a paralegal and I have dealt with a few others in the past.
Did anyone notice that throughout her documents her surname is SIMMONS however, on her fake passport her surname is SIMMSONS. That was my first clue.
I found it interesting that our proposed client felt the need to copy her passport and sent it along. Why?
Then I was alerted when the purported judgment was written entirely in English from a court system in Japan, yeah right!
July 02, 2013 at 3:15 pm, Julie Collura said:
I received the same letter, and a response to my reply. This time from a third e-mail address. I have dealt with overseas custodial parents, and this did not initially concern me as being potentially fraudulent. I thought perhaps the English was due to proximity to an American Naval Base. Thank God for this website. She said her ex-husband was in Fresno, CA this time. (I googled his name, which is how I found this site)
July 03, 2013 at 12:01 pm, Eric said:
I received this email too! I sent “her” an engagement letter and sure enough a few days later I received a UPS envelope with a PNC Bank check for 289K and a “memo” from her husband. Thinking it was too good to be true, (why wouldn’t the husband just send the check directly to her and avoid paying legal fees?) I made a simple Google search and found this page!
I contacted the bank, as this con artist emailed me wire instructions, and let them know the whole story. Now this person is attempting to call my office (look out for numbers 225-5555 no area code shows up, and 819-700-1868) and emailing me about her poor daughter who is going into surgery and the doctor needs the money right away!
Its a male female team as the secretary here is now starting to get calls from a Dr. Simmons, the best part is that these people don’t even have Japanese accents!
July 04, 2013 at 2:09 pm, Daphne Xiao said:
This is purported to be a Japanese agreement. The only foreign language on the decree and the agreement is Korean and not Japanese.
July 08, 2013 at 8:34 pm, John H said:
Add me to the list! I just got the “check” sent overnight w/ instructins to deposit in my trust account. I have been suspicious since firts being contacted, but with the arrival o the check I thought this might be legit. Out of curiousiy I googled Simmons and found this blog. Well, it was nice to think I made some $$$!!! Oh well……..
July 09, 2013 at 4:42 pm, Buddie R. (Buzz) Brown said:
I have received the exact same e-mail as above from a reply. I googled Hanako Simmons and got this website. I never got to any money. The return e-mail address this time is [email protected]
July 16, 2013 at 10:39 am, Anne said:
I too was just sent an email from [email protected] I became suspicsioys as the email address was different from the re4turn email which was listed as [email protected]
Just keep your eyes open – the scammers usually leave little clues…..
July 16, 2013 at 11:38 am, Jon R. said:
[email protected] is probably another alias.
July 16, 2013 at 1:14 pm, Meredith Alley said:
I am a non-practicing, TN licensed attorney. I initially thought the inquiry might be legitimate as there was a case in a county near the one where I used to practice involving someone with the same name [link below]. I responded to “Ms. Simmons” requesting details and copies of the Order in her “case” and received no response. Here’s the email I have received twice from [email protected]
Counsel,
I wish to file an enforcement petition/Judgment enforcement against my ex-spouse for breaching the court’s decree with regards to payment of Child Support, Spousal Support and Medical Support. Kindly reply me via [email protected]) if your firm handles such case.
Ms.Hanako Simmons.
The case I referenced above: https://bulk.resource.org/courts.gov/c/F3/56/56.F3d.64.94-5754.html
July 17, 2013 at 12:38 pm, Neal said:
I’m a law student in NC and I was targeted by this scam as well. I explained to “Hanako” that I can’t represent anyone since I’m only a student. I was about to pass the email along to my supervising attorney at the firm I intern for, but thankfully found this before we contacted her or I embarrassed myself.
I’m not sure where these scammers got my email, but my mind immediately goes to one potential suspect: LawCrossing. I receive an avalanche of spam from them, even though I’ve never signed up for or paid for their service.
July 17, 2013 at 5:29 pm, Steven E. Feder said:
I got it, too. Being highly suspicious of the whole thing, I emailed back and told the woman purportedly in Japan that we don’t accept engagements by email only, that we would have to talk.
Surprise! I found a voicemail today, left mere hours after I sent the ‘we need to talk’ email, supposedly from this lady in Japan. While her accent sounds Asian, it does NOT sound Japanese (I have have some familiarity). Remarkable that they have the gumption to actually call, though, during business hours–she might have actually reached me if I hadn’t been in court.
Pretty brazen crooks!
July 18, 2013 at 7:17 am, Michael said:
Make that another potential victim. The response letter I read at the beginning of this site was word-for-word the response I received. I am just curious here, has any attorney attepted to deposit the check and if so, what happened?
July 18, 2013 at 9:53 am, TimLemieux said:
There is usually no problem depositing the checks. The look convincing and can fool bank tellers. Eventually however, the bank will discover it is counterfeit. If the lawyer has already wired the money overseas, he’ll be left with a big hole in his trust account.
July 18, 2013 at 9:53 am, TimLemieux said:
There is usually no problem depositing the checks. They look convincing and can fool bank tellers. Eventually however, the bank will discover it is counterfeit. If the lawyer has already wired the money overseas, he’ll be left with a big hole in his trust account.
September 12, 2013 at 12:18 am, Portland Paralegal Services said:
She emailed me in July, then she wrote back again in Sept. 2013 with the exact same message under the pseudonym:
“Fumiko Anderson” at [email protected]
very brazen
Monday, July 22, 2013 7:55 PM
> Subject: Legal Assistance.
>
>>
> Hi,
>
> I wish to file an enforcement petition against my ex-spouse for
> breaching the court’s decree with regards to payment of Child Support,
> Spousal Support and Medical Support.
>
> Please i need to know if you can help me.
>
September 12, 2013 at 10:18 am, Steven E. Fedr, Esq. said:
Same here. Emailed me a couple of months ago, went away, and I have rceived two more in the last several days–same exact email, different name at the bottom.
They must have a very low opinion of our intelligence. 🙂