by FraudInfo

Date First Reported: August 2012

Primary Name Associated: Paul Agius

Description of Potential Fraud:

fraud-warning

Two Ontario lawyers have notified us that they’ve received an email from the purported Richard Frazier looking to retain them with regards to a breach of a business loan agreement. This is similar to other frauds of this kind we have seen. For a full description of how this fraud works and to see other names attached to it, see our Confirmed Fraud page that deals with business loan frauds.

Here is the email:

From: Paul Agius [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: August 1, 2012 3:52 PM
To: undisclosed-recipients
Subject: Legal Assistance

Am searching for a lawyer to handle my breach of contract matter. Please kindly get back to me so that i can procide you with more details of the Matter or you can get back to me with a referral if any.
Waiting to read from you
Regards
Paul

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 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.