Intellectual Property Rights Fraud
In intellectual property rights fraud scams, a lawyer is contacted to help a (usually overseas) business collect damages from a purported IP or copyright infringement by a company in the lawyer’s jurisdiction. The fraudster will provide documentation showing the terms of the agreement and how it was violated. A retainer agreement will be signed, but the fraudster will delay in paying the retainer fee. Instead, the lawyer will be asked to deduct any fees from the debt payment.
When the lawyer has sent a demand letter (or sometimes, before any letter has been sent) a cheque will arrive. The lawyer will be asked to deposit the cheque in the trust account and wire the balance (after fees are deducted) to an overseas account. Of course, the cheque is fraudulent and the lawyer will be left with a shortfall in the trust account.
In this type of scam, the fraudsters will often use the details of a real company, including web address, names of real employees and the mailing address. The contact phone number and email, however, will be fake. We’ve seen the same company names used several times, with only the name of the fraudster changing.
Below is a list of names associated with this type of fraud.
Weng Wei , Ng Date First Reported: May 2017
Abe, Tsuyoshi Date First Reported: August 2016
Au-Yeung, Lewis Date First Reported: September 2016
Chen, Allen Date First Reported: April 2014
Chi, Yiu Date First Reported: August 2016
Fengsheng, Che Date First Reported: April 2016
Fong, Lee Date First Reported: January 2014
Fung, Hung Kim Date First Reported: October 2017
Gangolf, Albert Date First Reported: April 2014
Heng, Huan Date First Reported: February 2017
Ikeda, Yutaka Date First Reported: February 2013
Itoh, Chiaki Date First Reported: May 2016
Iwasaki, Hiroaki Date First Reported: December 2012
John, Rab Date First Reported: October 2014
Josh, Jyoung Date First Reported: October 2013
Kobayashi , Eizo Date First Reported: November 2014
Kung, David Date First Reported: June 2016
Lee, Xiang Date First Reported: June 2018
Leu , Gary Date First Reported: October 2016
Liu , Daniel Date First Reported: June 2012
Lung, Wen Date First Reported: July 2016
Machta, Elias Date First Reported: June 2013
Miyashita , Nana Date First Reported: February 2013
Mizuno, Akihisa Date First Reported: October 2015
Nguyen , Lam Date First Reported: November 2013
Nippon , Dai Date First Reported: March 2013
Nishido, Toru Date First Reported: October 2016
Ohwa , Kenji Date First Reported: September 2012
Richeng, Du Date First Reported: May 2014
Tanawat, Nut Date First Reported: May 2014
Thiam, Khor Date First Reported: February 2018
Tiong, Ng Say Date First Reported: November 2018
Tomoko , Yoshiko Date First Reported: January 2014
Tong, Wesley Date First Reported: October 2017
Wang, Jin Date First Reported: July 2018
Wang, Lily Date First Reported: May 2012
Wang , David Date First Reported: July 2012
Young-Jin, Kim Date First Reported: June 2016
Yu , Anthony Date First Reported: September 2013
Yu , Miyahara Date First Reported: September 2013
Yuichi , Tomio Date First Reported: October 2013
