Commercial equipment purchase scam using the name Chris Hammet (or Newton Jim)
Date First Reported: June 2014
Primary Name Associated: Chris Hammet
Description of Potential Fraud:
[Updated July 2014]
A dozen U.S. firms have notified us that they received an email from the purported Chris Hammet (or Newton Jim) looking to retain them with regards to making a large commercial purchase.
This is a 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 purchaser (who is part of the fraud). See our Confirmed Frauds 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 contact email sent by the fraudster to the lawyer:
From: Chris Hammet [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Thursday, June 19, 2014 3:36 PM
Subject: Inquiry!
I want to inquire if your firm handles Purchase transactions and agreements. A referral will be welcomed if this is not your area of practice and also provide me with your contact number and time of availability.
Regards,
Chris Hammet
Replying to the email brought this response and fake documentation:
This is a follow up email in regards to my request for Like I explained to you on the phone yesterday, I am in the process of selling my Dredger to a company located in your state and one of their verbal terms of purchase is, I will have to provide a purchase agreement that protects them with their state laws and provide an attorney to monitor this transaction.
Find below the name of the proposed buyer for your conflict check. I want to know your hourly rate for preparing a purchase agreement, I have attached some necessary details of my dredger. Please let me know what time you will be available for a telephone conference on Monday, so we can discuss further. I await your prompt response.
PROPOSED BUYER:
Antrim Development Corp
124 N Division Street # B
Traverse City, MI 49684
Sincerely,
Chris Hammet
And some have reported receiving phone calls from the fraudster. The number is 646-328-0728.
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.
June 24, 2014 at 10:54 am, Peter Vogel said:
Received this exact email from Chris Hammet on 6/24/14. A secretary responded to the inquiry saying that we could help with a commercial transaction. Follow up email from Hammet said that Northern Oil and Gas wanted to buy a 2.9 M dredger from him. When I saw that email, I googled Chris Hammet and came across your blog post. I can’t find any other information on Chris Hammet that is relevant, so I assume it is bogus. Northern Oil and Gas is a legitimate company in Minnesota engaged in Oil extraction in North Dakota.
June 25, 2014 at 12:41 pm, Richard Shinbaum said:
I received the exact same email today saying that he wanted to hire me to help draw the documents to transfer the same dredger to Energen, which is a very large natural gas producer in the Southeast. I googled ChrisHammet.com and learned that the website had been purchased in Canada on June 17, 2014. I then Googled this site and sent the notice of the scam to the Alabama Bar Association.
Thanks for your site.
July 03, 2014 at 4:36 pm, Christina Walters said:
We also received the same email. He followed up with emails of pictures and lots of information. The company he said he was selling to had an online presence but was not licensed in our area nor were they even in our local phone directory. Further suspicion arose when we called the number he left us and there was no business name in the recorded menu. He has followed up with multiple phone calls.
July 09, 2014 at 11:17 am, Erica said:
Thanks for putting this up. It made it easy to know if this inquiry was a scam. Received a similar email with same photo.
September 15, 2014 at 7:11 pm, Scott said:
We received this, but it was under the name Aya Asaka, who was from Heraus, Ltd in Tokyo (which is a real entity). The email language, though, was identical.
January 15, 2015 at 10:46 am, Dustin said:
We received the same. My boss was suspicious the from the beginning. Company checked out so we were considering moving forward when we found this posting confirming its a scam.
Just wanted to add that our version of the scam included a badly broken up phone call from “Eric Ehas in Belgium”. I would imagine they may use “bad phone connection” to somehow elevate the urgency. It was an impressive spoof of a broken phone call.
January 29, 2015 at 3:00 pm, Gary Smith said:
We had the same email from Conor O’Brien, Head of Purchase & Logistics
Van Oord, marine ingenuity, PO Box 8574, 3009 AN Rotterdam. He said that Van Oord, which is a legitimate company, wanted to sell a dredger to a company in the Cayman Islands. We were about to respond but then found your very helpful website with these similar experiences.
February 18, 2015 at 6:43 pm, Daniel Rubinow said:
Received a similar email through a competitor site.
It is from Arjan Van De Kerk from the Van Oord Company. That’s a real person at a real company from the Netherlands. The email was in regards to selling a dredger.
The email was from [email protected], though. @execs.com is not what Van Oord uses. It’s mostly connected to scam.
March 17, 2015 at 11:42 am, Mike Schroth said:
We also just received an email from an individual calling himself Arjan Van De Kerk of the Van Oord Company in the Netherlands. He asked if we handled purchase agreements. I sent him a basic reply that we do and that I would be happy to speak with him about his needs. He sent a reply email in which he stated that he was attempting to sell a dredger. He listed the name of a legitimate company here on the Great Lakes as a buyer. He asked for my hourly rate, retainer amount, and a fee agreement.
He also had an email with a suffix @execs.com.
I was actually going to follow up with this guy until I came across this website.
April 29, 2015 at 10:06 pm, Dan Himelman said:
I also received an email exactly as described by Mike Schroth . They listed the name of a large construction company based in NJ as the buyer of a dredger. I was suspicious of this request and found this website during my research of the parties involved.
April 30, 2015 at 3:02 pm, Mike Schroth said:
As a follow up, I contacted the Van Oord Company about the email I received. The company informed me that the email was a scam, they have been aware of the scam, and they have informed Dutch authorities about it.
May 14, 2015 at 1:22 pm, Bonnie Yamani said:
We received a very similar line of emails. The strangest thing to me is that an engineer would provide the buyer’s information specifically for a “conflict check”. This particular scam used what appeared to be a real Canadian engineering firm and a real company registered with Florida’s Secretary of State. Next thing you know, we received a check for about $590K (which contained our retainer from the buyer). The check was from a real third party, although there was no connection. We attempted to call the alleged buyer and seller, but the numbers were no longer in service. The third party had no record of the check. It’s scary how crafty these crooks are getting to make their scams appear real!
May 21, 2015 at 12:32 pm, Sean Liles said:
I just received an email from Mr. Arjan Van De Kerk of the Van Oord Company in the Netherlands as well. He asked the same questions and even named a legitimate big company here in Michigan. He sent me an estimate sheet of the transaction. It was for a transaction worth more than $6,000,000.00. The estimate sheet did not have the company address or contact info. Also, the email came from a gmail account and did not match the Van Oord Company’s emails. Then I cam across this website. Thank you!
June 16, 2015 at 8:02 pm, David Columbine said:
Just got a similar email in Sydney, Australia from a Steven Mirai of Hitachi High-Technologies Inc in Ontario, Canada. He looked up our website and got my name and addressed it to me personally. Red lights flashed and I smelled scam.
September 17, 2015 at 12:30 pm, Mark said:
I received similar email from a Eugen Jansen, Director, Sales, Marketing and Projects, Wasa Dredging Ltd, Raastuvankatu 21 B, FIN-65100 Vaasa, Finland. Proposed sale of a dredger to Atlantic Dredging LLC which appears to be a legit operation in Quincy, Massachusetts. Dredger worth $2.9 Million. Stay safe fellow brothers and sisters of the bar.
September 21, 2015 at 3:52 pm, Kristy said:
I just received a very similar email from Zuoshang Xu, claiming to be a rep from a Taiwanese company, wanting to sell a dredger for $2.9 Million to a company in Santa Ana. Both the Seller and Buyer companies looked legit from a quick Google search. This nearly fooled a number of sophisticated people at our firm. Luckily I found this site first.
October 13, 2015 at 8:19 pm, Steve Hickey said:
I received this scam/solicitation. The name of the scam client was “Pit Martin,” a former Chicago Blackhawk. Same scam as discussed above, with different names and potential defendant. The figure was $3,950,000.
I called the return number and asked to speak to Mr. Martin. A man who sounded nothing like your average Canadian would not answer any question without a question. He answered the phone without mentioning a company name. It was obviously a scam so I got off the call right away – after telling him I was certain that he was scamming. Watch out.
June 14, 2017 at 11:12 am, Mark said:
From: Pieter Van Oord [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Tuesday, June 13, 2017 5:31 PM
To: Law firm in Canada
Subject:
Dear Attorney ,
We are a Dutch contracting company that specializes in dredging and land reclamation.
We have a buyer in your area for one of our equipment and We need an attorney to assist us in drafting the purchase and Sales agreement. Are you able to take this matter? If not, a referral will be appreciated. Please endeavor to reply soonest.
Thank you.
Best Regards,
Pieter van Oord, CEO Van Oord Marine ingenuity
Address:
Schaardijk 211
3063 NH Rotterdam
The Netherlands
Postal address:
PO Box 8574
3009 AN Rotterdam
The Netherlands
Telephone:
088 8260000 (calling from the Netherlands)
+31635250214(calling from outside the Netherlands)