The precis… essentially fraudsters are creating facsimiles of real law firm websites and using the online presence to scam “clients”
Here’s a report from the Vancouver Sun about family lawyer Leena Yousefi….
Attempted scam involved Vancouver lawyer's website
Vancouver-based family lawyer Leena Yousefi was shocked this week to learn her website — or a near facsimile of it — was being used in an apparent attempted scam involving a Guinness record-holding adventurer from Florida and the identity of a lawyer in Ohio.
Yousefi came forward with her story to warn people to be wary about who they give their money to — even if the recipient appears to be a trustworthy lawyer. Police say scams are getting increasingly complex and staff at the Law Society of B.C. say fraudsters sometimes impersonate lawyers in attempts to trick people out of their money.
“I think a lot of sophisticated or smart people might actually fall for this,” Yousefi said in an interview, adding that when people think there’s a lawyer involved in a business transaction they probably trust that it’s legitimate.
The bizarre tale begins with Ralph Brown, a shipbuilder who has been searching for investors to finance a yacht called the American Dream that he hopes will break the record for fastest boat to circumnavigate the earth.
“I’m almost embarrassed to admit how many ‘no’s’ I’ve gotten,” Brown said in an interview.
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But Brown recently believed he found his investor — someone he located through LinkedIn. The investor told Brown (in poorly-written English) they would give him $1 million if he put up the boat as collateral, and said there would be no upfront fees. But the investor later told Brown they would need to receive a $4,700 insurance fee before handing over the money.
That fee, they said, would need to be paid through Richard D. Palmer, a lawyer in Columbus, Ohio.
“I wanted to believe these people. I wanted so bad to believe them,” said Brown, whose world records include longest non-stop journey in a flats boat. But because he has been scammed before and didn’t want it to happen again, he started doing research.
Among the emails Brown received in relation to the deal was a URL for a website under Palmer’s name. That site, Brown eventually discovered, was a knock-off of the one owned by Yousefi’s firm in Vancouver. After contacting Yousefi directly, Brown came to believe that the U.S. site — and his investor — may be part of an elaborate fraud.
Yousefi’s site can be seen at ylaw.ca. The knock-off site is at rdpalmerlpa.com. It has the same photos and layout of Yousefi’s award winning site, but most of the names and numbers have been changed to fit a Richard D. Palmer of 580 South High Street, Suite 250, Columbus, Ohio.
Read on at the link at the top of the story
