by FraudInfo

Description of Potential Fraud:

fraud-warning

Three Ontario lawyers have notified us that they’ve been contacted by the purported Jane Akira Wilson with regards to collecting on a loan. While in this case the loan was in the context of a personal relationship, the gist of the fraud of the same as the many business loan scams we’ve 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 load frauds.

Here is the initial email.

jane wilson Thu, Feb 16, 2012 at 2:04 PM
To: lawyer name

Good Day Attorney
My name is Jane Akira Wilson and i am in need of legal assistance. I loaned my ex”John Anderson” some
money when we were dating to be exact in September 2008.The loan was to be paid back in two years i.e by
September 2010, he has repaid part of it. I have contacted him several times about the remaining balance but he always promises to pay up but has not done so yet. I feel need to file legal charges against him to get the balance of the money am owed. Please i need a lawyer who can help me proceed with this case.
Thank you

A lawyer who replied got this response and the following supporting documentation.

Thank you for the reply. Attached is a copy of the agreement we had. Please i surfer from an illness called dysarthria. In 2010 i had an accident which damaged the part of my central nervous system that controls speech, please i hope we can communicate by email for now?

I feel its only proper that i give you a brief story of how the transaction took place, I met John when he came from the Canada to the Japan for some business in 2007, we started seeing each other and we were even planning on getting married. In 2008 John asked me for the loan, i gave him total of $290,000.00 on the 15th of September 2008 and in July of 2009 he paid me the first installment of $45,000.00. In early 2010 John wanted me to move to the Canada with him but i had to be home because my dad passed and i and my siblings were left with the family business to run and that brought a strain on our relationship, after a few more months we decided the long distance relationship could not work and decided to go our separate way. I had a serious accident in August 2010 and was out of communication with him for a while but after i got much better i began mailing and asking him to repay the loan because i really needed the money but he kept telling me the same story all the time, that he is going to pay it all back that i should give him a little time, but now its been too long and am in need of the money. I feel the only way i can get my money back from John is to take him to court and force him to pay. I gave John the money because at that time he said he was in serious financial problems and he needed it, I had some money in trust which John knew of and when he asked me for the loan i thought to myself since
the money was just there and not being used it was better i gave it to the man i loved to take care of his problems than leave it in the bank doing nothing. There was no security on the loan, to be honest i didn’t even want to sign the agreement, i told him he could have the money and i trusted he would pay me back but he insisted we have an agreement drawn up. Please i would be glad if you could help me pursue this case and recover the money that is owed to me
Thank you

Wilson loan agreement

Finally, the following cheque and cover letter arrived at the lawyer’s office.


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 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.