Description of Potential Fraud:

fraud-warning

Two Ontario firms have notified us that they received an email from the purported Shigeo Yoshida of Nichicon Corporation looking to retain them with regards to a commercial debt collection..

This appears to be a 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 purchaser (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 email received by lawyers when they responded to the original contact:

From: Nichicon Corporation [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Thursday, September 10, 2015 2:52 PM
Subject: Representation

We are Nichicon Corporation and We would like to know if you have conflict
that will prevent you from representing us against an entity in your
jurisdiction.

This matter regards shipment and products standard. We have explore all
avenues to resolve this issue amicably, unfortunately we have not progressed
as expected. If you require the name of the opposing party to conduct your
conflict check, please respond to our inquiry and we are ready to pay your
retainer fee immediately.

Regards

Mr. Shigeo Yoshida (President)
Nichicon Corporation
Karasumadori Oike-agaru,
Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto, 604-0845 Japan
TEL. 81-75-231-8461
FAX. 81-75-256-4158
Email;[email protected]
http://www.nichicon.co.jp

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 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.