New twist on an old scam
Fraudsters make first contact through Avvo before trying to perpetuate the old cashier’s check scam
A slight new twist on an old scam aimed at lawyers has been brought to the attention of the Bar’s Practice Resource Institute.
In these cases, instead of directly contacting lawyers, the scammers are using the Avvo lawyer rating service to make a connection with the target lawyer.
After that, the scam is like earlier efforts to defraud lawyers. The lawyer is asked to assist in some legal work, a business transaction, debt collection, lease agreement, or the like, and then is sent a payment from which the lawyer is supposed to deduct his or her fees and then forward the remainder to the “client.”
The cashier’s check, of course, is worthless.
One lawyer contacted the company named and found it was a real company but hadn’t been looking for legal work. However, the company had received calls from other lawyers who had been contacted by the scammers.
The lawyer also received two additional contacts by scammers through Avvo with similar offers of work but with slightly different details.
