In this scam, fraudsters pose as new clients usually with no previous relationship, asking the lawyer to review settlement documents, provide ILA, and receive the settlement funds into the lawyer’s trust account. No retainer fee is provided upfront. To enhance the credibility of this fraudulent scheme the documents include the name of a real insurance company.
In reality, they have no need for ILA and there are no settlement funds. Their objective is to persuade a lawyer to deposit a fraudulent certified cheque, bank draft, credit union official cheque or money order into a trust account. Once the funds appear to clear, the scammer pressures the lawyer to transfer the money electronically — typically before the financial institution discovers that the instrument is counterfeit or was worthless. Learn more about the details of this scam here.
We recommend reviewing the names and ruses fraudsters have attempted to use against BC lawyers. If this scam has been attempted on you, please contact Barbara Buchanan, KC at bbuchanan@lsbc.org or 604.697.5816 and provide the details so that we are made aware of new twists and trends.
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