International Law

WARNING TO ONTARIO LAWYERS

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LawPro wants Ontario lawyers to be aware of what is essentially an advance fee scam in disguise.

"Last week LAWPRO e-blasted 20,000 Ontario lawyers in private practice with a warning about a bad cheque fraud scam targeting lawyer trust accounts.

That e-mail blast prompted several Ontario lawyers to call us and we have gathered further information about these frauds.

It now seems clear to us that there is an organized scheme underway to defraud Ontario lawyers in and around the Greater Toronto Area using matters involving small business equipment loans.

These matters all share the same basic timeline and circumstances, and in some cases, the same purported individuals or entities (a lender from Halifax or Montreal).

These are contrived matters that are solely intended to have you disburse good funds to the fraudster after depositing a bad cheque in your trust account - leaving you with a shortfall.

As of tonight I have not heard whether related or similar frauds are happening in other provinces. I have been in contact with my colleagues at other provincial law societies and insurers and will advise via a comment to this post if I hear of frauds happening in any other provinces.

Dan Pinningto also writes:

"What is amazing to me is that despite seeing some of the red flags for fraud, they still wanted to believe that the matter was a legitimate one and that the client was not a fraudster. I gather he is very convincing."

Well, I am amazed that LawPro a) thinks cognitive dissonance in fraud is amazing and b) that con criminals have to be convincing.

The con criminal doesn't have to be very convincing, he or she just has to know how to present the trappings of a deal which convince you.

Once cognitive dissonance sets in, the victim will find it very hard to believe that they are a mark. This is why many of these transactions will go through despite red flag warnings.

People drive through warnings lights because it was red when I drove through it. Warning people at the wrong time can induce cognitive disarray and improve the con criminal's chances at beating the mark.

Full post as published by Misleading Advertising Law on May 13, 2009 (boomark / email).