Commercial debt collection scam using the names Oswald Banfield and Barreett Steel Limited
Description of Potential Fraud:
Firms in Colorado and Montana notified us that they received an email from the purported Oswald Banfield and Barreett Steel Limited looking to retain them with regards assisting on corporate matters, but in reality is likely a lead-up to a commercial debt collection scam or similar kind of scam.
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 response:
From: Oswald Banfield mailto:[email protected]
Sent: Wednesday, November 20, 2013 9:36 AM
To: undisclosed-recipients:
Subject: Business Case
I want to inquire if your firm handles breach of contract cases. A referral will be welcomed if this is not your area of practice.
Oswald Banfield
Replying to the email brought this response:
From: Oswald Banfield [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Thursday, November 21, 2013 5:28 AM
To:
Subject: RE: Business Case
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.
Triple-S Steel Holdings, Inc.
3811 Joliet Street Denver, Colorado 80239
We hope to hear from you at your earliest convenience.
Sincerely,
Oswald Banfield
Executive Board of Director
Barreett Steel Limited
Barrett House Cutler
Heights Lane Dudley
Hill Bradford, West Yorkshire BD4 9HU
T: +44 793 701 4296
F: +44 809 174 0719
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.
November 22, 2013 at 4:56 pm, Stephanie said:
Oswald Banfield
Breach Of Contract Case!
I want to inquire if your firm handles breach of contract cases. A referral will be welcomed if this is not your area of practice.
Oswald Banfield
Received this. No mention of the Barreett company though.
December 12, 2013 at 4:11 pm, Mark A. Baker said:
Hi,
I received the attached email yesterday through my website:
[email protected]
Dec 11 (1 day ago)
to me
Date: 12/11/2013 The following person filled out and has sent you information from a long contact form on markabakerlaw.com:
From Page: Contact Us
Name: OSwald Banfield
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 605-599-7803
Alternate Phone:
Address Line 1: Your Address
Address Line 2:
City: Your City
State: Your State
Zip: Your Zip/Postal Code
country:
Date Of Incident:
Nature of Legal Matter:
Name Of Adverse Parties:
Found Website:
Additional Comments: I do wish to inquire if your law firm handles breach of contract matters. Kindly write back for further details. Regards Mr Oswald Banfield.
IP Address: 41.71.217.158
January 03, 2014 at 5:18 pm, Nadine said:
I got it today to my email address which is on file with the STate Bar. I have had quite a few of these and I appreciate this website. My email was similar, if not identical, to the one above.
February 13, 2014 at 1:41 pm, Beverly Salhanick said:
I received an email from Lawrence Stevenson with the email [email protected] which had the identical message.
Since the email didn’t match the sender, I googled the email and got to your site. Thanks for the heads up.
February 20, 2014 at 9:23 pm, Dan Canon said:
Just got this one from a “Steven Culwell.” Thanks for this post.
February 25, 2014 at 1:50 pm, Ric Armstrong said:
And I just received an almost identical one from Steven Culwell [[email protected]]
March 24, 2014 at 7:10 pm, --- said:
[another variation of this scam]
Hello Attorney,
We are a Production, publishing and marketing company in Switzerland . We have a breach of intellectual property agreement matter in your jurisdiction, we can forward you the agreement and other party information for your review to enable you run a conflict check.
Yours Sincerely,
Albert Gangolf
Manager
Daimon Verlag AG
Hauptstr 85 8840 Einsiedeln
Einsiedeln Switzerland
eMAIL ; [email protected]
http://www.daimon.ch/
March 31, 2014 at 4:12 pm, Scott Bergman said:
We received the same letter from Albert Gangolf as well on March 25, 2014:
Hello Attorney,
We are a Production, publishing and marketing company in Switzerland . We have a breach of intellectual property agreement matter in your jurisdiction, we can forward you the agreement and other party information for your review to enable you run a conflict check.
Yours Sincerely,
Albert Gangolf
Manager
Daimon Verlag AG
Hauptstr 85 8840 Einsiedeln
Einsiedeln Switzerland
eMAIL ; [email protected]
http://www.daimon.ch/
April 07, 2014 at 12:46 pm, John Shewfelt said:
I am a partner with Miller Thomson LLP in Vancouver, Canada. The same email was received on April 7, 2014:
Hello Attorney,
We are a Production, publishing and marketing company in Switzerland . We have a breach of intellectual property agreement matter in your jurisdiction, we can forward you the agreement and other party information for your review to enable you run a conflict check.
Yours Sincerely,
Albert Gangolf
Manager
Daimon Verlag AG
Hauptstr 85 8840 Einsiedeln
Einsiedeln Switzerland
+41225481670
http://www.daimon.ch/
May 13, 2014 at 10:18 am, Dies Irae said:
Same from Steven Alley [[email protected]]:
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.
Triple-S Steel Supply
1840 South 700 West Salt Lake City, Utah 84104
We hope to hear from you at your earliest convenience.
Sincerely,
Steven Alley.
Managing Director
AVON STEEL COMPANY LIMITED
Midsomer Norton Enterprise Park,
Wheelers Hill, Midsomer Norton,
Bath BA3 2BB United Kingdom.
T: +44 793 701 4296
F: +44 809 174 0930