by FraudInfo

Date First Reported: July 2015

Primary Name Associated: Chew Peggy

Description of Potential Fraud:

fraud-warning

An Ontario firm notified us that they received an email from the purported Chew Peggy of Kayaba System Machinery Co looking to retain them with regards to making a large commercial purchase.

This is 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 initial contact email sent to the lawyer:

From: Ms Chew Peggy [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Thursday, July 09, 2015 1:57 PM
To:
Subject: Legal Service Inquiry

My company has offer to sell one of it’s Sand and Gravel Dredger and Process Plant’ , at a price of $2,650,000. a company in your province is interested in it.
The buyer is ready and willing to buy this Dredger and has sent us a Letter of intent LOI.
We will like to engage an Attorney , with experience in Purchase and Sales agreement. To help draft the Purchase and Sales agreement, and also provide escrow service (Attorney Trust Account) for this transaction for 10% on the deposit money.
Please let me know if your Firm handle Purchase and sales agreements,so I can send you the full details.
Thanks
Ms. Chew Peggy
Executive Director Sales
For President
Kayaba System Machinery Co., Ltd
9th Floor, Sumitomo Fudosan Shibadaimon Building
5-5 Shibadaimon 2-chome Minato-ku, Tokyo 105-0012. Japan
Email: [email protected]
+81-8032131510

Replying to the email brought this response:

Thanks for responding to my inquiry, The buyer details is given below for your conflict check;

St Lawrence Marine & Dredging
87 Fitzsimmons Rd
Lansdowne, ON K0E 1L0

I await your responses.

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.