Fraud Alert

August 21, 2009

Beginning in October 2008, a number of Fraud Alerts were circulated by John Allen, CA regarding lawyers trust accounts. Please read the attached Fraud Alert Update, as well as well as a Press Release from the RCMP.

March 6, 2009

The Law Society of British Columbia has provided notice to the profession of a new scam in that province.  We have had no indication of any Saskatchewan connections at this time.

November 24, 2008

The following scam was recently attempted in another province. We do not have all the details yet, but we understand it was intended to work as follows:

• A member is contacted by phone to act for a purchaser of real estate.
• The purchaser is from out of the country, and in this case, overseas, but the member deals with a person in Canada acting on the purchaser’s behalf (ie. a relative).
• Fortunately, the member asked the purchaser to comply with the new proposed Rules on Client Identification (ie. provide a certified copy of passport, etc.). The required identification was never received.
• The Canadian contact stated that copies of identification would be difficult to obtain because the client was ill and receiving medical treatment in Germany.
• Another lawyer was acting for the vendor and a realtor was involved.
• The member received a fraudulent cheque for the amount of the purchase. The cheque could be from a bank, mortgage company, or anyone, since it is a forgery.
• The member deposited the fraudulent cheque and was contacted soon after by the clients’ family member advising that the client had passed away and requesting the return of monies (from trust), presumably, by wire transfer. This transpires in a timely manner; before the member becomes aware that the original cheque was fraudulent.

Further details will be provided as they become available, but please note that this is fraud, and as with other scams, this will no doubt take on many forms as the fraudsters attempt to get your trust money. 

In the meantime, if you are contacted by anyone with this type of scam, please advise John Allen, CA at the Law Society office at 569-8242.

October 16, 2008

There is a new scam out there that is much harder to detect than those previously received  by members. I am attaching information (cover letter and invoice) received by a member in regard to this scam for your information and it is worthy to note that:

1. The names used are very close to legitimate companies.
2. The email address in this case is “live.com”. This type of address “hotline, yahoo” etc is a warning sign to be on the alert. 
3. As noted by the member below, this scam originated with a cold telephone call and was then followed up with the email
4. An internet search for the company revealed a similar corporation but that corporation was doing a different type of business. 
5. This letter is far more professional than those rec’d on previous scams

The names and locations of the corporations under suspicion are:

• Genentech Engineering – New York
• Devlan Construction – Nova Scotia
• Maxwell China Ltd.-- China 

I have also been advised by another lawyer that he has received numerous emails, faxes and at least one phone call on a scam similar to the one described above and in the attachment.  The information provided below came directly from the lawyer contacted.

This began with a cold call on the telephone followed by this email two days later.

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