Separation agreement scam using the name Fumiko Anderson
Date First Reported: September 2013
Primary Name Associated: Fumiko Anderson
Description of Potential Fraud:
[Updated Nov 2013]
Over 180 lawyers in Ontario, the U.S and overseas have notified us that they received an email from the purported Fumiko Anderson looking to retain them with regards to a collecting overdue payments resulting from a separation 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 debtor (who is 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.
Here is the initial email, subsequent replies and fake documentation sent by the fraudster to the lawyer:
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Tuesday, September 03, 2013 8:18 AM
Subject: I need your Counsel
Dear Counsel,
I wish to engage your legal representation to help me file a petition against my ex-husband for breaching the court order with regards to payment of Child Support, Spousal Support and Medical Support. Kindly advise.
Regards,
Fumiko Anderson
Replying to the email brought this response:
Thank you for your prompt response. Am currently in Japan for an assignment while Bill Anderson (ex-husband) lives in Chicago, IL. 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 one-time payment of $878,650.00USD for Family support (this includes child support, alimony and medical support). To his credit, he has paid me $201,600.00USD but still owing $677.050.00USD 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.
Regards,
Fumiko Anderson
3-6-23 Karashimacho,Chuo-ku,Kumamoto. City 860-0804
Phone: +81 (0) 505 809-8190
Fumiko Bill_Anderson_Separation
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.
December 12, 2014 at 5:16 pm, John said:
My wife was contacted through LinkedIn by an alleged Professor in the UK that was listed as a consultant for Yupeng Heavy Industrial Equipment. We assume she was targeted because of her many connections with EB-5 Attorney’s because of a program she is involved in.
He initiated the contact and she has since been contacted by Meo Wan. The same correspondence above was used.
Can someone tell me if the Company (Yupeng) actually exists? How about the various people with Yueng job titles on LinkedIn? Including a couple of Accounts Receivable Agents. Pretty elaborate to put all of those in place!
Too bad. Would have been a nice gig! We are glad that your blog was here as we began to check it out. Thank you!
December 16, 2014 at 12:45 pm, TimLemieux said:
The fraudsters often use real companies and the names of real executive, but change the contact information to direct enquiries to the fraudsters themselves.
January 06, 2015 at 11:54 am, Brad said:
We also were contacted by Meo Wan from Yupeng who offered us a salary of 60k plus 2% commisions.
We havent done a thing yet they sent us a client to collect from. Some lawyer in the US.
This is a scam I am certain.
January 06, 2015 at 1:05 pm, Mitch Sandler said:
Dear Tim,
Is their a way to chase these bandits down, I too, was sucked into this via Linkedin. They actually were assigned a email Fu Hang = [email protected] an address from the company so somebody inside is doing this and assigning email addresses….Plus thier Country code is 85 not 86 which is China, 85 is Hong Kong or Macau…..I have the MOU signed and my first assignment to call a Canadian attorney “Bill Robinson” to collect on $178,548.00″. I was suspicious at first and wanted to see how far this went…. Would you like the information?
Mitch Sandler
Should I report this tho IC3.org? I have not done anything yet….
January 07, 2015 at 5:22 pm, TimLemieux said:
Hi Mr. Sandler. If you have emails from the fraudsters you can forward them to [email protected] We haven’t had much luck shutting any of them down or getting police much interested in doing anything. We’re told it takes too much time and resources, and the fraudsters just change names and addresses constantly anyhow. We’ve found getting the information out on this blog is a very effective way to alert lawyers who may use Google to find more information on these “clients”.
November 23, 2016 at 10:58 am, Dave Brezina said:
Not to take away from the warning — I probably got one from Fumiko and I get probably four “do you handle breach of contract” inquiries a month — but it looks like the banks were equally sloppy about negotiating the fake check. First American who initially paid the fake check had to reimburse their customer and the lawyer, his bank who deposited in the trust account, and the Federal Reserve acted in good faith. This according to Monday’s Seventh Circuit opinion. http://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/ca7/16-1122/16-1122-2016-11-22.html