Debt collection scam by Jane Akira Wilson
Date First Reported: March 2012
Primary Name Associated: Jane Akira Wilson
Description of Potential Fraud:
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
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
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.
March 21, 2012 at 8:28 pm, cary sternback said:
Here’s what I got for a NY collection from same person as to John Hughes: Thank you for the reply. John lives on 421 7th Avenue New York, NY 10001. Please i surfer from 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? Attached is a copy of the agreement we had, i feel it should help explain my situation better, please i would need your assistance, i have been on cancer treatment and it just got worse and am about to start a new Zevalin treatment which is very expensive and i need all the money i can get. i have told John that am going to get a lawyer to fight this case but i guess he doesn’t believe me, he still feels am so much in love with him and will do no such thing as take him to court, i must be true i still care about him but at this point my health is the most important thing to me right now, i hope you can assist me and am waiting for your response.
Thanks” She even sent me a 3 page promissory note. Luckily, I have heard of this scam and I am thankful you have posted this as a warning to all.
April 23, 2012 at 1:03 pm, MD Lawyer said:
I am a Maryland barred attorney who recently received contact from this same purported potential client “Jane Wilson.” Thankfully it did not pass the “smell test” and I searched online where I found this site. Thanks for sharing this helpful info and I hope any other attorneys contacted by this scammer find your site before responding!
April 25, 2012 at 12:40 pm, SPO said:
Received the same email with information tailored to suit my locale in South Florida. Smelled fishy from the get go, the PNC provided all requested documents but things still didn’t add up. This site was the proverbial nail in the coffin seeing the exact same passport as the one that was emailed to me.
April 27, 2012 at 10:57 am, Robert Davies said:
same thing, here in New Jersey, provided a local address for the purported exboyfriend.
April 30, 2012 at 1:56 pm, Tim said:
I just received the identical email and when she claimed to be in Japan, I questioned “her” on how she obtained my info and requested that we need to talk over the phone. She sent me back the story on the whole dystheria thing. That’s when I got really suspicious and googled the name. This site came up. I think I’m going to string her along for a bit.
May 01, 2012 at 10:53 am, Peter said:
Seems Jane Akira Wilson has trouble remembering where this John Hughes lives! Looks like in the past two months, she thought he lived in ON, NY, NJ, south FL, MD, and now WI. I just received an email this morning from her. I asked for contact info to run a conflicts check: his address is in a different part of the state (so, why my firm?) and she’s in Japan! When I googled her phone number (819060357499), I found two scam sites, including this one.
Hopefully, no one falls for this one.
May 01, 2012 at 9:26 pm, roberto said:
john and jane didn’t get me wasted several hours of my time and our attorney’s time, but did not get us. We are not so naive, once they would have send me the money order I would have waited a year or 10 until it clear before I even send them a penny how stupid can someone be to be scam out of money on this? Yes waste time of course, but eventually when you start asking for personal info the buck stops cold. They can scam you if you try to do things in a hurry. If it is to good to be true, its not good or true. God bless their soul.
May 01, 2012 at 9:35 pm, roberto said:
I got this from John when I contacted Peter’s email from Jane Wilson. Well hope they had fun. I wasted a few hours but started stinking when I asked for personal info on both the trail of emails stopped cold. Hope no one fall for it. I would have never send them money, but you have to answer customers who contact you on your web site is just the right thing to do. Customer service. What a waste of time.
Mr. Roberto Barrantes,
I was told by my cousin Peter that you contacted him regarding the money i owe to Jane Wilson and that you are going to file a case against me in court. It is my hope that we don’t have to go that far as I intend to pay every cent back. I have had some serious financial and family issues and that is why I have not settled the debt so far but I am pleased that all has been settled and am getting back on my feet. Firstly I have to plead with you because I am a family man with 3 children. At the time I met her I was having some troubles in my home and after we met I was going to file for a divorce with my wife so we could be together but the reverend of my church intervened after he heard of my intentions and after a bit of marriage counseling I decided not to go ahead with the divorce and work things out with my wife. I never told Jane I was married when we were together and I didn’t know what to say to her after I didn’t go through with the divorce because I knew she truly loved me and I love her too, but I had 3 kids to think off so I had to make my marriage work even if it was just for the sake of my children. I am telling you all this because I would not want this case to go to court and ruin my marriage, reputation and family. I would be very grateful if we can settle this matter without going to court. I will be willing to send you some money so you can hold off any legal proceedings against me and i will appreciate your understanding. I am away for business right now but i am ready to make a commitment so you know that i am very serious about paying her back.
I apologies for any inconvenience i might have caused her and am very sorry for the delays and i would be happy if you could hold back any legal proceeding against me.
Yours sincerely
John Hughes
June 06, 2012 at 3:24 pm, Houston Attorney said:
Jane tried to pull a fast one again. Here is the bank info wanted to release funds to.
Banking Information
BANK NAME: CHIBA BANK
BANK BRANCH ADDRESS: CHIBA-KEN CHIBA-SHI MIHAMA-KU TAKASU 3-9-2 JAPAN
BANK CODE: 071
ACCOUNT NUMBER: 3772881
SWIFT CODE: CHBAJPJT
BENEFICIARY/COMPANY NAME: SAKIMURA YUKA
ADDRESS: CHIBA-KEN CHIBA-SHI MIHAMA-KU TAKASU 3-4-11-105 JAPAN
June 06, 2012 at 3:27 pm, Houston Attorney said:
Jane is trying to be slick but the bottom line is he is a desperate guy who may be from Houston and pretend to be in Canada. He speaks perfect english but fakes the accent. The money circles around from Japan to Canada to Nigeria and then comes to Houston. At least we think.
June 07, 2012 at 4:23 pm, Houston Attorney said:
This number is used to call as John the person who owes money to Jane.
647-909-0998.
June 15, 2012 at 2:21 pm, P WANG said:
I just got the same email with PDF attachments of the loan agreement. I googled the name and this site came up.
I promptly informed my insurance company on this.
August 06, 2012 at 1:38 pm, SF Lawyer said:
This scam continues, she is now using a name of Michelle Williams. Appreciate the heads up as I was already quite skeptical and this just confirmed it.
August 29, 2012 at 10:33 am, Chuck said:
Received the basic email on August 27, 2012 from “michelle Williams” at [email protected]. Spidey sense was tingling.
Skeptically asked for more information, including referral source. Wrong answer.
Received “loan” documentation in the form of 3 .jpg attachments. The ex boyfriend is John Anderson of 355 Grove St. Apt 9 San Francisco, CA 94102
October 15, 2012 at 6:28 pm, Mike Carter said:
I received the Michelle Williams website today, and researched it on Google. This time she used [email protected].
January 06, 2014 at 12:03 pm, Marc Wigle said:
Seems like “Jane” has a new scam. I received this email today:
Greetings,
This is an official request from shopper’s guide seeking for serious individuals who will work as a secrete Shopper in your region in Canada and earns up to $150.00 per hour. Get back to us by calling our telephone number or send us an e-mail if interested.
Respectfully,
Tim Williams
Tel: 647-909-0998
E-mail: [email protected]