SPAMMING LAW FIRMS . . . I've noticed a striking similarity in some emails I've received lately, all of them seeking legal assistance--

Dear Counsel, My name is Jenifer D.Williams. I am contacting your firm in regards to a divorce settlement with my ex husband Raymond K. Williams who resides in your jurisdiction. We agreed in 2009 for a $320,000 payment as part of the terms of our out-of-court mutual CPLA separation plus legal fees. I am hereby seeking your firm`s assistance in collecting this payment from him. He has agreed already to pay but it is my belief that a Law firm like yours is needed to help me collect/enforce payment from my ex-husband or litigate this matter if he fails to pay as promised. If this falls under the scope of your practice, get back to me at your earliest convenience with your details so that I can send you further information.

Dear Counsel, My name is Kim Cheng, I am contacting your firm in regards to a divorce settlement with my ex husband, Randy Cheng, who resides in your jurisdiction. I am currently on assignment in Japan. We had an out of court agreement (Collaborative Law Agreement) for him to pay $448,450.00 plus legal fees. He has only paid me $44,000 since. I am hereby seeking your firm to assistance in collecting the balance from him. He has agreed already to pay me the balance but it is my belief that a Law firm like yours is needed to help me collect payment from my ex-husband or litigate this matter if he fails to pay as promised.

Dear Counsel, My name is Miyoko Kazuo. I am contacting your firm in regards to a divorce settlement with my ex husband Naoki Kazuo who resides in your jurisdiction. I am hereby seeking your firm`s assistance in collecting the balance from him.

So what's the point? What are the spammers after? They already have my email address.

Comments

[Mark Lyon]

They want you to accept their case. They will then have the "other party" suddenly agree to settle and then mail a check. You will deposit into your trust account and then send a wire transfer to your "client" before the other one clears. It will be dishonored, but the "client" has your cash.

[Louis]

I got the same e-mail from Jenifer this week (lawyer in Mississippi). Obvious scam but I wrote her back to ask what was the jurisdiction. She then sent me a pdf of a very amateurish LegalZoom type divorce agreement with no addresses and forged signatures of alleged attorneys James Fetterman and Mario Johnson. I replied with this link and told Jenifer to have a great day.

[Melissa Brumback]

What Mark said. They make it sound like a slam dunk easy case... then they play the float with a rubber check. I've heard of law firms (big, big ones) getting hit for several hundred thousand in this scheme!

[AR]

Just for fun in responding to such a simplistic scam, ask for payment upfront of your legal fees.
They'll go away once you ask for payment first.

[Antonio Cortes]

Actually, AR, if you ask for payment up front, they will still send you the bogus check, so make clear in the tendered engagement letter that you are not their lawyer until an advance payment is received. I have the bogus check sitting here on the kitchen counter, and am waiting for the message to hurry up and wire some money. Will keep you posted on what they say in the next communication. Tony

[Duende]

I was baiting a scammer concerning a SLR digital camera I was selling. They actually wanted me to use a US address which put it in the jurisdiction of US law enforcement. I contacted the local police as well as the Post Office Inspector General since the scammer wanted me to ship it. Internet crime was being touted all over in Northern Cal where I lived yet no one was interested.