Date First Reported: August 2015

Primary Name Associated: Linda Aioko

Description of Potential Fraud:

fraud-warning

Two Ontario firms notified us that they received an email from the purported Zuoshang Xu of Hung Hua Construction Corporation looking to retain them with regards to making a large commercial purchase.

This appears to be 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 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 to the lawyer:

From: Harrison Kho [email protected]
Date: 08-15-2015 2:14 PM (GMT-05:00)
To:
Subject: Further Information

Attn:

This is a follow up email in regards to my request to you in my
previous email; My company is in the process of selling one of its
Dredgers. Please 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 the
Dredger for your review please advise me on your rate, initial
retainer fee and forward me your retainer agreement.

PROPOSED BUYER:

Bondfield Construction
407 Basaltic Road
Concord, Ontario
Canada L4K 4W8

I await your prompt response.

Sincerely,

Linda Aioko

For: Tokuaki Kojima
President & CEO
KIJ Corporation Ltd.
1-6 Kiba-cho, Minato-ku
Nagoya 455-0021, Japan
Tel: +81-4-82-20-2215

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 SheetMore 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.