by FraudInfo

Date First Reported: August 2016

Primary Name Associated: Gerhard Dingler

Description of Potential Fraud:

fraud-warning

Firms in Ontario and California have notified us that they received an email from the purported Gerhard Dingler of Dingler Baumaschinen GmbH & Co looking to retain them with regards to assisting on a large commercial purchase & sale.

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 initial contact email sent to the lawyer:

From: Gerhard Dingler [email protected]

Replying to the email brought this response:

I do appreciate your reply.

My company is in need of an experienced business attorney to guide us through closing the sale of 2015 Crawler Crane Terex HC-275 equipment to Valentine Corporation 111 Pelican Way San Rafael, California 94901.
The above mentioned 2015 Crawler crane equipment has a sales price of $1,755,319.00. This includes the insurance cost, shipping and handling cost, quality control test approval to ensure the standards tallies with the US government approved level. Attached are some required details of the crane equipment to your attention and review. The equipment is located in Hamburg, Germany.
Advice on your rate for drafting a sale contract and forward your engagement letter for our review and signature if you can help.
I look forward to hearing back from you. Thank you for your consideration.

Swen Jobst
Managing Director
Bauer Baumaschinenhandel GmbH
Bayerische Strasse 1
06667 Zorbau
Germany
Phone.: +4915218999307
Fax.: +4934473744300
www.bf-trader.de

The name “Swen Jobst” has also been used in an attempted real estate bad cheque scam:

I’m Swen Jobst ,Managing Director Bauer Baumaschinenhandel GmbH Bayerische strasse 00667 Zorbau Germany. I believe you are an experienced real estate agent? i went through your profile on your website and saw your jobs and i decided to contact you as i believe you will be of great assistance to me in Purchasing an average suitable family home. 4 bedroom with bathrooms, a garage, with or without swimming pool,waterfront, Price range $800,000 to $1,500,000. in a conducive area.

Attached is my prepapproval Letter and Proof of funds.

Please send me your listings to see if I could get a nice home to buy from you. Thanks.

Regards,
Swen jobst

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.