Commercial debt collection scam using the names Steven Taylor (or Steve Aaron) and Bourne Group
Description of Potential Fraud:

Forty lawyers in Ontario and the U.S. have notified us that they received an email from the purported Steven Taylor (or Steve Aaron) of the Bourne Group (or Chainbridge Steel) looking to retain them with regards to a commercial debt collection.
This is a classic 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 debtor (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 by the fraudster to the lawyer and subsequent responses:
From: Steven Taylor
To: undisclosed-recipients:
Please respond to [email protected]
—
Please advice if your law office handles Collection/Breach of Contract matters. If this is within your line of practice please revert to us. We do appreciate a referral if it is not your area of Legal Practice.
Thanks,
Steven Taylor.
Replying to the email brought this response:
Please let this email serve as our response regarding your firm representing our company. Find below our debtors information for a conflict check, before we can schedule for a telephone conference.
Brenmar Steel Sales
900 Morton Street Jackson, OH 45640
We hope to hear from you at your earliest convenience.
Sincerely,
Steven Taylor.
Executive Board of Directors.
Bourne Group Limited
St Clements House St Clements Rd,
Poole, Dorset BH12 4GP, United Kingdom.
T: +44 793 701 4296
F: +44 809 174 0719
E: [email protected]
W: http://www.bournegroup.eu/
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.
September 11, 2013 at 4:55 pm, Richard M. Lewis said:
I was contacted by e mail by a person purporting to be Steven Taylor, a member of the Bd. of Directors of Bourne Group, seeking to collect a large commercial debt alleged to be owed by a specific corporation located within the city I am located.
September 12, 2013 at 4:15 pm, David Kight said:
I received these e-mails also.
September 16, 2013 at 10:03 pm, Gayle Anthony said:
I also received these emails
September 18, 2013 at 10:18 am, Patty Fye said:
I received a phone call from my attorney telling me he was contacted by the same asking him to represent them against my company.
September 18, 2013 at 6:43 pm, Tim Canning said:
I too have received similar emails, but from a “Steven Aaron” purportedly an executive director of Chainbridge Steel in the UK. Phone numbers in the email didn’t match phone numbers listed for the company on the company’s website.
September 20, 2013 at 2:01 pm, John Coughlin said:
I just got off the phone with “Mr. Taylor” and he said that his debtor is going to be sending me a check for the outstanding obligation, payable to my trust account. Then I can simply deduct my fee and send him a trust account check for the balance. I wonder if anyone has actually fallen for this.
Thanks for this site, very useful and even entertaining.
September 23, 2013 at 2:02 pm, Gayle Anthony said:
LOL so in UT he said his debtor was a company (that is in fact real). But it just did not add up – too easy of a case. I did tell “Mr. Taylor” that I knew he was attempting to scam me and never heard another word.
September 25, 2013 at 2:49 pm, Clayton Walker said:
We have received the same verbatim solicitation in Anchorage, Alaska. We’re a net importer of steel. We do not produce steel in Alaska for export. So, the matter seemed fishy from the get go. Glad to see my initial impressions were accurate.
September 26, 2013 at 1:03 pm, Gene Stevens said:
Same text, same first name.
However, Steven used a different last name when contacting my office in Texas.
It never hurts to google search the potential client’s request when it says “Collection/Breach of Contract matters”.
Before I reverted him, I thought I should check it out.
Not sure what caused me concern. 🙂
Thanks for this information. Very enlightening.
September 30, 2013 at 3:25 pm, Craig said:
He is now going by the name of Steven Parker. received one late last week.
November 27, 2013 at 5:06 pm, Ian Reardon said:
I received this email as well. Name was Steven Parker. I thought it was weird that he used a live.com email address.
December 18, 2013 at 11:25 am, Scott said:
This same phone number is now being used in what appears to be another scam in Florida, which is also identified on this website. It is using the name Oswald Banfield as a representative of Barrett Steel in Florida. Barrett Steel has no similar phone country codes on its website, so it led me here. Email address was gmail despite the reference to a significant company that had real email addresses.
May 22, 2018 at 4:51 pm, Stuart Edick said:
855-720-2522
Claim to be Mitigation Injunction Services representing hospital for 1996 bill, which hospital denies and states is well beyond 6 year statute of limitations. Hung up when asked for their address and name of their principle.
June 13, 2018 at 1:28 pm, Lyn said:
833-283-1624
Received a phone call from a blocked number, so I let the voicemail pick it up. The man in the voicemail stated “This message is for [name redacted]. My name is Steven Taylor. I’m contacting you regarding a complaint in my office that is being considered for legal action. Contact the firm at 833-283-1624 with any questions or concerns regarding case number 209307. No contact may result in decisions made, perhaps without your consent.” This man also called my sister in law and my father in law and left the exact same messages for my husband on their voicemails.
I called and spoke to Robert Woods (if that’s his real name) about a hospital bill from 2003… which is well passed the 10 year statute of limitations in my state. When I stated this he try to give me some excuse that it was up for legal process in 2008 and the statute of limitations would be up in October this year and that many places like this will shelf debts until the very last minute to collect as much as they can. I had him email me whatever documents he had on file… apparently, all he had was a settlement letter that he sent from a gmail address.
May 14, 2020 at 10:33 am, Lara said:
Received the following email today, note, they had not emailed us previously
Name: Steve Taylor
Email: [email protected]
Phone: (603) 783-2104
Page Title: How Can We Help?
Message: Greetings,
A few days ago I sent an email to your office to inquire if your law firm handles Breached of Agreement issues until now I have not received any response from your law firm.
Kindly revert back to me if yes or call me directly on (603) 783-2104
Sincerely
Steve Taylor
Tel: (603) 783-2104
Email: [email protected]