by FraudInfo

Date First Reported: November 2016

Primary Name Associated: Mirai Kennedy

Description of Potential Fraud:

fraud-warning

Two Ontario firms notified us that they received an email from the purported Mirai Kennedy looking to retain them with regards to a collecting overdue payments resulting from a separation agreement.

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 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 email received by the lawyer after the initial contact:


From: Mirai Kennedy
Sent: Sunday, November 6, 2016 5:15 PM
To: undisclosed-recipients:
Subject: INQUIRY

Dear Counsel,

I am making an inquiry about possible representation to
enforce terms of my dissolution agreement with my former
husband. Please advise if you handle such case. I will also
need a referral if this case is not within your line of
practice.

Thanks for your anticipated response

Yours Truly,
Mirai Kennedy.

Replying to the email brought this response:

Thank you for your willingness to assist me in this predicament. I have been on medication and that is why i have not been able to send you details of my experience with my ex.spouse. I will briefly explain the situation of my divorce and the reason your professionalism is needed to enforce dissolution agreement.
I and my ex-spouse fell in love during his UN deployment visit to Japan 1996 and got married 23rd of May, 1997, at Kumamoto Family Court. He is a medical practitioner for the UN.
I live in New York with my kids while my ex-spouse Louis Kennedy who resides in your jurisdiction Utah.
I and my ex-spouse agreed under a separation agreement incorporated, merged into and made part of the court order for a settlement of Child Support, Spouse Support and Medical Support he still owes me and the stipulated time for the completion of payment April 17th, 2013 has long elapsed as you will get better understanding after reading through the attached Separation Agreement and Decree of Divorce.
This is the reason why I contacted your firm as there is already an agreement in place. Thus, I request your firm’s legal service to enforce the court order compelling him to remit balance owed me.
I would appreciate if you kindly review the attached Separation Agreement and the Decree of Divorce and see how you can assist in compelling my ex-spouse to pay me the balance owed me.
I would love to speak with you concerning this case on phone, so I would require you send me your below details in your response,
Full names:
Address:
Phone Number:
Best Time To Call:
I am having difficulty in hearing and do not speak English fluently, kindly pardon me as you may have difficulties in understanding me when I call but will give you a call to discuss and explain in details and also seek your counseling/advice on how to move further in this case.
I am due for medical surgery on my ear next month and this is one of the reason I need your professionalism in recovering this funds from my ex-spouse as I need the funds to pay my medical bills.
Also in your next mail, kindly send me the fee charged As Retainer fee along with a copy of the Retainer Agreement for me to fill out.
Find attached to this mail the Separation Agreement and the Decree of Divorce.
Yours Faithfully,
Mirai.

mirai-kennedy-passport

Categories: Fraud Warnings

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]. We use this information for the warnings we post on AvoidAClaim. We do not disclose the names of firms that have provided us with information.

Ontario Lawyers - Call LAWPRO

If you are an Ontario lawyer acting on a matter that you suspect might be a fraud, call LAWPRO at 1-800-410-1013 (416-598-5899). One of our Fraud Team members 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, we will work with you to prevent the fraud and minimize potential claims costs.

What can you do to help put a stop to the fraud attempt?

You can simply stop replying to the fraudster’s emails or inform them that you suspect fraud and will not act on the matter. You can report the fraudsters’ email addresses to the email hosting company. If you have a fraudulent cheque you can destroy it or send it to the fraud department of the financial institution it is drawn upon. In Canada, you can report the fraud to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre.

We are often asked if it is worthwhile to report the fraud attempt to the police in the hopes of helping catch the fraudsters. You can certainly report the fraud to your local or federal law enforcement agencies, but unfortunately it is often difficult, expensive and time consuming for them to attempt to shut down these online fraud perpetrators (though there are some successes).

What if the fraud has been successful?

If you have been successfully duped, please immediately notify LAWPRO as there may be a claim against you. See the LAWPRO website for instructions on how to report a claim.

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. To proactively prevent trust account shortfalls and malpractice claims, LAWPRO encourages firms to teach their lawyers and staff about fraud and how to recognize fraud attempts.