by FraudInfo

Date First Reported: December 2014

Primary Name Associated: Akio Kohri

Description of Potential Fraud:

fraud-warning

A California firm notified us that they received an email from the purported Akio Kohri of Adeka Corporation looking to retain them with regards to a commercial debt collection.

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 from the fraudster to the lawyer:

Subject: Your Attention
Date: Mon, 29 Dec 2014 13:17:44 -0800
From: Akio Kohri
To: [email protected]

Attn.

Good day to you, please kindly confirm the receipt of this e-mail if you are in a position to represent our company in matters of debt collections.
We contact you to represent our company after a careful review of your profile. We are of the opinion that a reputable firm is required to represent us in your country in order for us to recover monies owe to our organization by our customers in Nevada.

In order to recover these debts, a good and reputable law firm/collection agency like yours will be required to handle this service. Please advice if you are capable of representing our company.
Once more thank you for taking time from your busy schedule to read this mail.

Kind Regards.
Akio Kohri
Rep. Director and Chairman:

ADEKA CORPORATION
7-2-35 Higashi-ogu| Arakawa-ku| 
Tokyo. Japan
www.adk.co.jp

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.

What can you do to help put a stop to the fraud attempt? You can simply stop replying to the fraudster’s emails or inform them that you suspect fraud and will not act on the matter (or will take no further actions on the matter). You can report the fraudsters email addresses to the email hosting company. If you have a fraudulent cheque you can destroy it or send it to the fraud department of the financial institution, which may wish to see it. In Canada, you can report the fraud to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre.

We are often asked if it is worthwhile to report the fraud attempt to the police in the hopes of helping catch the fraudsters. You can certainly report the fraud to your local or federal law enforcement agencies, but unfortunately it is often difficult, expensive and time consuming for them to attempt to shut down these online fraud perpetrators (though there are some successes).

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.