Commercial debt collection scam using the names Anna Styrud and Diamyd Medical AB
Date First Reported: February 2014
Primary Name Associated: Anna Styrud
Description of Potential Fraud:
[Updated March 2014]
65 lawyers in Ontario and the U.S. have notified us that they received an email from the purported Anna Styrud of Diamyd Medical AB 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 contact email sent by the fraudster to the lawyer and subsequent response:
From: Anna Styrud
Sent: Monday, January 27, 2014 4:25 PM
To:
Subject: Breach Of Contract.
We were referred to your firm by A member of American Bar Association. We are inquiring for an Attorney who specializes in Breach of Contract or Litigation.
Yours Sincerely,
Anna Styrud
Chief Financial Officer
Diamyd Medical AB
www.diamyd.com
Replying to the email brought this response:
Firstly, we would like to thank you for your response to our inquiry for legal services. However, we wish to inform you that we would need your firm’s legal help to assist us with a breach of contract matter and also retrieve funds owed to our company. The contract of sales was signed on the 2nd August 2013; Seller was supposed to deliver to us the buyer on or before 23rd August 2013. However, the deadline date was extended to 5th September 2013 as requested for by the Selling Company. Quite unfortunately, the extended deadline was not honored.
We ordered goods from Praxair, and we were asked to make a 50% down payment for goods to be delivered to us and that we did, and up till date no goods were delivered. We asked for a refund but they have refused to make the refund to us. The amount in dispute is $633,567.60.
Despite the foregoing, I will like to draw your attention to the relationship with the selling company which has been cordial and we have had successful business relationship over the past few years, and it is our position to maintain the relationship after settling the issues on hand. Right now, I will like to take appropriate steps and measures to enforce our rights on the agreement and/ or claim damages as appropriate. We request a 9.5% interest on monthly bases from the day the contract was breached.
If your firm is retained, our expectation of your services for now will be within the scenario of an engagement letter to our client. This approach will trigger the much needed response from our client towards amicable settlement otherwise we will not hesitate to go into court litigation. We are prepared to pay your retainer fees. Litigation may be introduced as a last resort when options have been exhausted. We look forward to your prompt response.
Please find below details of the owing company.
PRAXAIR
211 Mitchells Ln
Marietta, OH 45750
Your Sincerely,
Anna Styrud
Chief Financial Officer
Diamyd Medical AB
Kungsgatan 29,SE-111 56
Stockholm, Sweden.
Phone: +468-519-71490
www.diamyd.com
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.
February 04, 2014 at 4:29 pm, Susan Patten said:
We received a follow up email that was quite extensive regarding a distributor in California that owes them money, Praxair in Escondido.
March 05, 2014 at 7:35 pm, richard said:
We received further correspondence, including a signed Sales Contract of Goods dated August 2, 2013 with Praxair of Staten Island, NY, and a wire transfer from Danske Bank of US$633,667.60
March 19, 2014 at 10:45 am, Kelly said:
I received this email on 3/19/2014. I am in Little Rock, Arkansas.
March 20, 2014 at 5:47 pm, Chris said:
I received this email on 3/20/2014. My firm is in Seattle, Washington. Seems the scam artist is moving the scam West…..
March 24, 2014 at 5:26 pm, Mike said:
And to Australia too.
March 24, 2014 at 5:38 pm, John said:
came to me through a referral from major firm who had it passed to them from an even more major ny firm…neither referrer suspected anything in making referral…had gotten to stage of potentially sending them engagement letter…thanks for having this website as it was how we (my intern bless her!) found out this scam.
March 26, 2014 at 8:45 am, kristy Boon, Esq. said:
Received an inquiry from my website on March 26, 2014, purporting to be from Anna Styrud, CFO of Diamyd Medical stating she was seeking attorney to handle breach of contract matter.
March 28, 2014 at 11:38 am, Micah said:
Got this email on 3/27/14 in Sacramento, CA
March 28, 2014 at 12:14 pm, Paul said:
Received an email inquiry on March 27, 2014 from an individual purporting to be Anna Styrud, CFO of Diamyd Medical requesting someone to handle a breach of contract/litigation matter. My firm is in Michigan.
March 28, 2014 at 1:19 pm, KKR said:
Received an inquiry from my website on March 19, 2014, purporting to be from Anna Styrud, CFO of Diamyd Medical stating she was seeking an attorney to handle breach of contract matter.
April 02, 2014 at 12:47 am, Jessica said:
Thank you for maintaining this website and making fraud information available. I received this e-mail on March 29, 2014 in Guam, USA; across the international date line. So it appears that the scam may be moving very far west.
April 04, 2014 at 12:22 pm, Will Colvin said:
yep, I got it too – went so far as preparing a fee agreement – but questioned inaccuracies in spelling of names of Ms. Stryud and the company – I was next going to investigate Praxair in Ga. – anyway, thx. for saving me the trouble.
April 04, 2014 at 12:31 pm, Sig said:
I received it in El Salvador, on april 3rd 2014.
April 05, 2014 at 7:41 pm, W.G. said:
I received on April 5, 2014:
“We are inquiring for an experienced attorney who handles a breach of contract negotiation or a lawsuit. Yours Sincerely, Anna Styrud Chief Financial Officer Diamyd Medical AB www.diamyd.com”
I looked up the individual, and there is a Diamyd that claims to manufacture an ingredient for diabetes therapy and lists someone by this name with a photo. The site is legit, as I checked other sources, and it is based in Sweden. Either she doesn’t know how to find a lawyer, or somebody’s stealing her identity.
I am not a lawyer, nor am I connected to a law firm in any work-related issue. I live in Houston, Texas, USA.
April 09, 2014 at 2:42 pm, W.G. said:
I received a second, identical email on 3/9 at 2:23 UT+6. So if it was sent from Sweden, it was after midnight.
April 11, 2014 at 5:34 pm, Stephen said:
I received this inquiry and solicitation at my firm email address. I separately searched the Diamyd company which appears based in Sweden and legit, but look carefully at the reply email address which is spelled “diiamyd” and thus routing to the fraudsters servers.
April 14, 2014 at 7:35 pm, David Greenberg said:
Add our firm to the list!
We just got the same email from the “diiamyd” email address.
Can we all pitch in and buy an island somewhere, where there is no electricity or the possibility to manufacture it, and rendition all of these fraudsters there for the rest of the lives? Then again, I don’t know if there is an island big enough to hold all of them.
April 22, 2014 at 11:52 am, Brian Lyda said:
Here’s what I received…. I am glad I checked out the fraud…
Attn: Brian S. Lyda,
Firstly, we would like to thank you for your response to our inquiry for your firm’s legal services. However, I wish to inform you that we would need your firm’s legal help to assist us with a breach of contract case and also in helping our firm retrieve funds owed by a firm in your country (USA). The contract of sales was signed on the 2nd August 2013; the firm was supposed to deliver to us the our ordered items on or before 23rd August 2013. However, the deadline was extended to the 5th of September 2013 which was requested by the firm, whereby the extended deadline was not honored.
We ordered goods from Praxair, and we were asked to make a 50% deposit for goods to be delivered to us which we did, but up till date these goods were never delivered. We have asked for a refund but they have refused to honor our request. The amount in dispute is $633,567.60 which was partial payment we remitted for the medical Items that was supposed to be delivered to us.
Despite the on foregoing issue with the firm, I will like to draw your attention to our previous relationship with the firm which has been successful in recent years, and it is our position to maintain the relationship after settling the current issue we have with the firm. Right now, we would want to take the appropriate step and measures to enforce our rights on the agreement and claim damages as appropriate. We request a 9.5% interest on monthly bases from the day the contract was breached.
If your firm is retained, we would want your firm to take the first approach by serving a letter to Praxair and see if that will trigger any action towards the request for our refund.
This approach will trigger the much needed response from the firm towards amicable settlement otherwise we will not hesitate to go into court litigation. We are prepared to pay your retainer fees, but Litigation may be introduced as a last resort when options have been exhausted. We look forward to your prompt response.
Please find below details of the owing company.
PRAXAIR
600 Richmond Terrace
Staten Island, NY 10301
Yours Sincerely,
Anna Styrud
Chief Financial Officer
Diamyd Medical AB
Kungsgatan 29,SE-111 56
Stockholm, Sweden.
Phone: +468-519-71490
www.diamyd.com
April 29, 2014 at 8:30 am, Jay M. Levin, Esq. said:
In Pennsylvania- received the same e-mail chain and received the same documents. Documents were questionable and the senders e-mail address had an extra “i” in Diamyd.
April 29, 2014 at 6:31 pm, Jim Reed said:
The tipoff for anyone in this kind of scam is that the email address is not the same as the website for the company. It closely resembles it, but the scammer set up an email account with an extra “i” in the name Diiamyd. The other tipoff is that it reeks of scam, with poor grammar, unprofessional signature block and rude greeting. No reputable company solicits legal advice this way.
May 08, 2014 at 9:43 am, Susan Salas said:
I received this letter in Michigan on March 31 and just responded to them on May 6, because I was concerned that it was fraudulent. They said they still needed an attorney. I asked them for their Articles of Association filed with Sweden and for the actual contract before I begin work. I never heard from them. I contacted the Swedish Companies Registration Office to ask about their registration and received this response:
“The Legal entity 556242-3797 Diamyd Medical Aktiebolag is registered in the Trade and Industry Register since 27th March 1984 in the name Synectics Music Aktiebolag. The current name Diamyd Medical Aktiebolag is registered 29th April 2013.
For further information about the company, please call our customer’s service at telephone number + 46 771 670 670.”
I also contacted the ABA about their referral process because I am not a member. When I looked into getting an attorney reference, it was not an easy task and required a bit of information from the potential client.
Then, I found this website.
Best o’ luck.
May 13, 2014 at 11:57 am, GM said:
5/13/14 – received the exact the same email as Bryan S. Lyda above.
Of course, when I asked for contact information, to make an appointment to meet with me, to sign a fee agreement and provide a retainer, they dodged the question and sent another template email. I have warned all my attorney friends.
May 22, 2014 at 1:34 am, vijai Parwani said:
its gone international. just got in here in Singapore and suspected as such.
June 06, 2014 at 7:57 pm, KSmall said:
I received this email today, referred to my South Carolina firm by the ABA.
July 07, 2014 at 12:12 pm, esc00 said:
The scam continues… instead of the message coming from Ann, it supposedly came from Partrick Zerhouni on 7/3/2014 in Seattle. His incoming e-mail address is listed as: “[email protected] address”. However, when I hit reply his e-mail comes up as”[email protected]”.
The scammer is using real people from the company. However, his/her mistake was listing Patrick is the CFO. His is not.
July 07, 2014 at 10:46 pm, GLewis said:
I received this email last week. My offices are located near Fort Worth, Texas. The fraudsters refused to place a small retainer, and I became suspicious. Thanks to your website, confirming this as fraud, I did not get taken. Thank you!