Description of Potential Fraud:

fraud-warning

A Toronto lawyer has notified us that they have received an email with regards to a commercial debt collection scam. For examples of other names attached to this kind of fraud see our Confirmed Fraud Page. For an explanation of how this fraud works see our Fraud Fact Sheet.

Here is the initial email:

From: Ichiro Itoh
Subject: We Need Your Services

Attention.

Good morning to you, please confirm the receipt of this mail if you are in a position to represent our company in matters of delinquent accounts collections. We contact you to represent our company after a careful review of your profile. We are of the opinion that a reputable attorney is required to represent us in your country in order for us to recover monies due to our organization by our clients in Canada.

In order to achieve these objectives a good and reputable law firm/collection agency like yours will be required to handle this service. Please advice on you takes in this issue.
Once more thank you for taking time from your busy schedule to read this mail.


Kind Regards.

Ichiro Itoh

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.