Breach of franchise agreement scam using the name Yoshiaki Fujimori
Date First Reported: April 2014
Primary Name Associated: Yoshiaki Fujimori
Description of Potential Fraud:
Seven Ontario lawyers have notified us that they have been contacted by the purported Yoshiaki Fujimore with regards to retaining their services to collect on breach of a franchise agreement.
This is a bad cheque scam (similar to those alleging a breach of an IP or copyright agreement) 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.
Yoshiaki Fujimori
To:
Date: 03/04/2014 01:25 PM
Subject: Hello
We had a franchise agreement with a company in your area and the agreement has been executed and now defaulted.
We would like to retain you to resolve this matter.
If you are interested please advise us on your initial retainer fee and we shall forward you the agreement
for you review.
Yours Sincerely,
Yoshiaki Fujimori
President:
Email: [email protected]
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. Instructions on how to report a claim are here.
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.
Leave a Reply