Listen up lawyers — and everyone else! In light of my last article, Lawyers, Best Target for Advance Fee Fraud?, the list of tips below should help everyone to avoid advance fee frauds. These tips are meant for lawyers, but apply to all potential victims.
Have a read and don’t get scammed.
Firstly, red flags:
- You are asked to wire money out of your account: Be very suspicious. A scammer will send you a cashier’s check, certified check, or postal money order to deposit into your account. Then they will give you a reason to wire some of that money out of your account to usually a foreign country and/or a third-party they identify.
- You are asked to act very quickly: As described in the previous article, scam artists depend on the fact that banks “clear” the check before actually verifying the legitimacy. Although, some very good counterfeit checks take weeks to be identified the as a counterfeit, scam artists don’t have much time to risk. Their fake checks usually pass initial visual inspections.
- Your client / contact claims to be in another country: Scammers in another country will tell you that they require your help to do business in your country. They need your help to i.e. collect money from a company in your country.
- As with most scams, the deal is too good to be true: If the client wants to hire you only after a few contacts, slow down. I’m sure you’re happy to rip off a client who’s eager to give you a generous commission; but in the end, you’ll be the one being ripped off.
Tips to Avoid Scams:
- Wait for a cashier’s or certified check to actually be collected before using the money. Wait for the final clearance from the bank. Although your financial institution may quickly make funds available or may tell you that the deposit has been credited to your account, that does no mean that the check is good or has cleared through the original issuing institution. The final clearance may take day to weeks. To be safe, verify the check with the issuing bank.
- The company you are dealing with is not real or legitimate just because the website looks professional.
- Know with whom you are dealing. The law generally assumes that you, not your financial institution, have the best knowledge of the person who gave you the check because you are dealing directly with them. Therefore, if you are dealing with a stranger, make sure you have that person’s name address and phone number, then verify those independently using online directories. If the number or address in the directory is different, call the person using those numbers. You may have stumbled into an identity-theft situation and can help another consumer.
- There is no legitimate reason for someone who is giving you money to ask you to wire money back by paying more than the amount due. Always insist that the check be in the exact amount or deal in cash. Emphasize that you prefer a check from a local bank or a national bank with a branch in your area.
- Your deposits are your responsibility. If you have deposited a check that then bounces, the bank will withdraw the original dollar amount credited to your trust account. If your trust account doesn’t have enough money to cover the deduction, the bank may freeze your trust account or, worse, the bank may sue you to recover the funds. The problem for attorneys is that if you hold funds for clients or third parties, you have to hold it in your client trust account. As a result, in this scam, if you’re complying with the ethical rules, you would have put the money into your trust account and then you’re disbursing out of your trust account. If the check you deposit turns out to be fake, then you may have converted the other clients’ funds in your account.
From North Carolina Bar Association
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