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Fish & Richardson Battles Scammers Writing Fake Checks on Firm's Bank Account - Brenda Sapino Jeffreys, Texas Lawyer
October 12, 2009
Would-be scammers trying for months to use Fish & Richardson to make their classic check-fraud plan work are not succeeding.
As soon as people started contacting the firm last December with questions about Fish & Richardson checks they had received in the mail, the Boston-based firm notified its bank that someone was trying to pass counterfeit checks written on a firm account. Most recently, on Oct. 5, the firm learned from its bank that someone tried unsuccessfully to cash one of the checks, suggesting the scammers may have mailed a new round of letters, says Kelly Largey, chief marketing officer for the 418-lawyer firm.
The checks were sent to people around the country -- including at least five in Texas -- with cover letters telling recipients to cash the checks, and to send some of the money to the sender for "processing fees" or to a "mystery shopper, and keep the rest of the money."
"It's kind of a variation on an age-old scam," Largey says. "We found out about it when people called us to ask if it's a real check. ... We are in the unfortunate position to tell people that something that seems too good to be true is too good to be true."
The firm, which has 70 lawyers in its Dallas, Houston and Austin offices, also put a notice on its Web site: "This is a scam," the firm warns people who look on the site's press release section. "The checks are counterfeit Fish & Richardson checks. Do not send money to the person or entity named in the letter. Do not try to cash the counterfeit checks."
Largey says none of the checks, which apparently were included in solicitations mailed around December 2008, were cashed, even though the fake checks are written on a legitimate Fish & Richardson account at Bank of America.
Don Vecchiarello, a spokesman for Charlotte, N.C.-based Bank of America, declines comment.
Since last December, Largey says the firm has received about 25 calls from individuals inquiring about the checks and another 45 from banks, but the inquiries slacked off in March. She believes the calls all came into the firm's Boston office. But on Oct. 5, Largey notes, the firm was notified through an alert system set up through Bank of America that someone attempted to cash one of the fake checks.
FAKE FUNDS
Largey says individuals who called Fish & Richardson inquiring about the counterfeit checks provided the firm with three different cover letters that included different information about cashing the checks and how to use the money. One person received a check for $3,830 with a letter promising a "lump sum payment" of $420,000 to the recipient as long as he or she paid tax and processing fees of $2,940 in advance. Another person received a check for $2,870 for a mystery shopper assignment, however all but $350 of the money was to be spent for the so-called mystery shopping. A third person received a check for $4,700 and a letter promising $180,000 in "total prize money," but requiring the upfront payment of $3,550 in "surcharges/processing fees."
A telephone number listed on one of the letters was "not in use." Calls placed to the phone numbers listed on the other two letters were answered with a recording that said the "customer is unavailable."
According to what individuals who received the checks told Fish & Richardson, the counterfeit checks ranged in value from $780 to $9,800, Largey says.
She says Fish & Richardson has no idea who is behind the scam or what their motivation is -- other than the desire to profit illegally. She says the individuals who contacted the firm about the fake checks were not clients and had no prior connection to the firm.
The firm reported the check-fraud scam to the U.S. Postal Service Office of the Inspector General, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and theBoston Police Department, but none of the agencies have reported back to the firm, Largey says.
Richard Tomlinson, a Houston lawyer at the Law Office of Richard Tomlinson who is a former assistant attorney general in the consumer protection division of the Texas Office of the Attorney General, says he has never heard of a scam involving fake law firm checks. He says there could be some connection between the scammers and the firm that would explain why the counterfeit Fish & Richardson checks have been mailed.
"There's some reason the no-goodniks have glommed onto Fish & Richardson," he says. "It's very odd." .
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