Wednesday, July 18, 2012

The ABC's of an Attorney Email Scam


  We wish to retain your services  to represent us(Harbex Metal Processing Ltd) to help facilitate the recovery of the money owed to us in the amount of$700,000.00USD. 

     We ordered goods from ABC Supply Co Inc and was asked to make a 50% ($700,000.00USD) down payment before goods will be delivered to us and that we did and up till date no goods were delivered nor was a refund made. We hereby seek legal help from your firm to help us collect this money owed to our company as we do not wish to go any further with the said transaction. We have made several previous attempts to collect these funds which all ended negatively. We are aware that a conflict search will need to be done. Please find below details of the owing company for your conflict check of interest.


ABC Supply Co Inc
2315 W Casino Drive
Everett, WA 98204   

I indulge you to prepared and forwarded to us your engagement letter for proper review of your terms and conditions to know if we can employ your services as time is of essence and we would want this issue to be resolved ASAP., should this be in your scope of practice, documentation supporting the claim will be forwarded to you afterwards.
We awaits your prompt response

Best Regards,
Steven Trescher.
Director 
Harbex Metal Processing Ltd.
High Oak Hill Works, Iwade Road,
Newington, Sittingbourne, Kent, ME9 7HY.
Tel: +44 702 404 1249
Fax: +44 844 774 9716

34 comments:

  1. I love how they set up dummy websites so if you "check" the parties, they appear to be real. I keep asking them for more and more verification. They eventually just give up.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Received the following with a contract that the scammer is trying to enforce: They supposedly ordered $948,000 U.S. worth of generators plucked off the ABC catalogue at $3,500 per generator to be shipped to the UK. Listed an ABC retail store in Colorado.

      We wish to retain your services to represent us(Harbex Metal Processing Ltd) to help facilitate the recovery of the money owed to us in the amount of $700,000.00USD.

      We ordered goods from ABC Supply Co Inc and was asked to make a 50% ($700,000.00USD) down payment before goods will be delivered to us and that we did and up till date no goods were delivered nor was a refund made. We hereby seek legal help from your firm to help us collect this money owed to our company as we do not wish to go any further with the said transaction. We have made several previous attempts to collect these funds which all ended negatively. We are aware that a conflict search will need to be done. Please find below details of the owing company for your conflict check of interest.


      ABC Supply Co Inc
      4200 Holly St.
      Denver, CO 80216

      I indulge you to prepared and forwarded to us your engagement letter for proper review of your terms and conditions to know if we can employ your services as time is of essence and we would want this issue to be resolved ASAP., should this be in your scope of practice, documentation supporting the claim will be forwarded to you afterwards.
      We awaits your prompt response

      Best Regards,
      Steven Trescher.
      Director
      Harbex Metal Processing Ltd.
      High Oak Hill Works, Iwade Road,
      Newington, Sittingbourne, Kent, ME9 7HY.
      Tel: +44 702 404 1249
      Fax: +44 844 774 9716
      http://www.harbex.co.uk/

      Delete
  2. -----Original Message-----
    From: Steven Trescher [mailto:daniela@ghs.pickens.k12.al.us]
    Sent: Wednesday, July 25, 2012 1:33 PM
    Subject: Legal Issue.
    I need a Business/Commercial litigation lawyer who can handle a collection issue. A referral would be welcome if this is not your area of practice.


    Regards,
    Barry

    ReplyDelete
  3. From: Steven Trescher



    Sent: Sun, Jul 22, 2012 4:29 pm

    Subject: Legal Inquiry





    I need a Business/Commercial litigation lawyer who can handle a collection
    issue. A referral would be welcome if this is not your area of practice.


    Regards,
    Steven Trescher.

    ReplyDelete
  4. At least his grammar is improving.
    Don't feel you are alone receiving this.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Here is another one of the same type, forwarded to me by a colleague:

    We wish to retain your services to represent us(Harbex Metal Processing Ltd) to help facilitate the recovery of the money owed to us in the amount of $700,000.00USD.

    We ordered goods from ABC Supply Co Inc and was asked to make a 50% ($700,000.00USD) down payment before goods will be delivered to us and that we did and up till date no goods were delivered nor was a refund made. We hereby seek legal help from your firm to help us collect this money owed to our company as we do not wish to go any further with the said transaction. We have made several previous attempts to collect these funds which all ended negatively. We are aware that a conflict search will need to be done. Please find below details of the owing company for your conflict check of interest.


    ABC Supply Co Inc
    25105 Brest
    Taylor, MI 48180

    I indulge you to prepared and forwarded to us your engagement letter for proper review of your terms and conditions to know if we can employ your services as time is of essence and we would want this issue to be resolved ASAP., should this be in your scope of practice, documentation supporting the claim will be forwarded to you afterwards.
    We awaits your prompt response

    Best Regards,
    Steven Trescher.
    Director
    Harbex Metal Processing Ltd.
    High Oak Hill Works, Iwade Road,
    Newington, Sittingbourne, Kent, ME9 7HY.
    Tel: +44 702 404 1249
    Fax: +44 844 774 9716
    http://www.harbex.co.uk/

    ReplyDelete
  6. In response to request for additional info I received following also:
    We wish to retain your services to represent us(Harbex Metal Processing Ltd) to help facilitate the recovery of the money owed to us in the amount of $700,000.00USD.

    We ordered goods from ABC Supply Co Inc and was asked to make a 50% ($700,000.00USD) down payment before goods will be delivered to us and that we did and up till date no goods were delivered nor was a refund made. We hereby seek legal help from your firm to help us collect this money owed to our company as we do not wish to go any further with the said transaction. We have made several previous attempts to collect these funds which all ended negatively. We are aware that a conflict search will need to be done. Please find below details of the owing company for your conflict check of interest.


    ABC Supply Co Inc
    21000 West 8 Mile Rd
    Southfield, MI 48075

    I indulge you to prepared and forwarded to us your engagement letter for proper review of your terms and conditions to know if we can employ your services as time is of essence and we would want this issue to be resolved ASAP., should this be in your scope of practice, documentation supporting the claim will be forwarded to you afterwards.
    We awaits your prompt response

    Best Regards,
    Steven Trescher.
    Director
    Harbex Metal Processing Ltd.
    High Oak Hill Works, Iwade Road,
    Newington, Sittingbourne, Kent, ME9 7HY.
    Tel: +44 702 404 1249
    Fax: +44 844 774 9716
    http://www.harbex.co.uk/

    ReplyDelete
  7. Steven Trescher is now listing himself as Managing Director.
    The language of the request is still the same. And oddly enough, Mr. Trescher called and he does not have a British accent

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hi, all.

    I just received a similar scam msg. When I hit "reply," the address that appeared was ______@harbexmp.com. I did a WhoIs search and found that harbexmp.com is an anonymously registered site in Queensland, Australia. I have reported the scam to the Australian Federal Police. I hope they get the perp.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I got one of the Steve Trescher emails wanting to collect from an ABC company in South Carolina.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I just got this message this morning:

    I need a business/Commercial litigation lawyer who can handle a collection issue. A referral would be welcomed if this is not your area of practice.

    Regards.
    Steven Trescher.

    ReplyDelete
  11. This message arrived 9/3/12
    I wish to enquiry if your law office would be able to recover debt.
    The debt is as a result of goods ordered for. Please confirm if you can be of assistance so we can discuss terms of retention. A referral would be welcomed if this is not your area of practice.

    Regards,
    Steven

    ReplyDelete
  12. Got the same as anonymous at 9/3 10.42 am, this morning.

    What is the point of these solicitations?

    ReplyDelete
  13. I received this just today, at 1:41 a.m.

    I wish to enquiry if your law office would be able to recover debt.
    The debt is as a result of goods ordered for. Please confirm if you can be of assistance so we can discuss terms of retention. A referral would be welcomed if this is not your area of practice.

    Regards,
    Steven

    The email address he used was Steven Trescher [lucio@dmv.ufrpe.br]

    ReplyDelete
  14. Received this morning. Virtually same message as the one from 9/4/12, but look at the "from" line. Looks like he has compromised a university staff member's email account.

    from: Steven Trescher mfuhrman@uaex.edu
    reply-to: Steven Trescher
    to: undisclosed recipients
    date: Thu, Sep 13, 2012 at 10:02 AM
    subject: Legal Inquiry
    mailed-by: uaex.edu

    I wish to inquiry if your law office would be able to recover debt. The debt is as a result of goods ordered for.Please confirm if you can be of assistance so we can discuss terms of retention.A referral would be welcomed if this is not your area of practice.

    Regards,
    Steven Trescher.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Received this afternoon from Lawyers.com
      I need a lawyer who can handle a Debt collection issue(business/commercial litigation). Please let me know if you can be of assistance to me or If not an referral could be helpful. We pay referral fees on success I really await your mail.. Best Regards, Nick Ualtar Director Harbex Metal Processing Ltd. High Oak Hill Works, Iwade Road, Newington, Sittingbourne, Kent, ME9 7HY. Tel: +44 702 404 1249 Fax: +44 844 774 971 http://www.harbex.co.uk

      Thanks for the information from everyone above.
      Bill

      Delete
  15. I first received this message...

    From: Steven [mailto:danchin555@foncia.fr]
    Sent: Tuesday, October 02, 2012 4:58 PM
    To: undisclosed-recipients:
    Cc:
    Subject: Business Case

    I wish to enquiry if your law office would be able to recover debt. The debt is as a result of goods ordered for. Please confirm if you can be of assistance so we can discuss terms of retention. A referral would be welcomed if this is not your area of practice.

    Regards,
    Steven

    ...I replied to it, and received this message a couple hours later.

    From: Steven Trescher
    Sent: Wednesday, October 03, 2012 12:01 PM
    Subject: RE: Business Case

    We wish to retain your services to represent us(Harbex Metal Processing Ltd) to help facilitate the recovery of the money owed to us in the amount of $700,000.00USD.

    We ordered goods from ABC Supply Co Inc and was asked to make a 50% ($700,000.00USD) down payment before goods will be delivered to us and that we did and up till date no goods were delivered nor was a refund made. We hereby seek legal help from your firm to help us collect this money owed to our company as we do not wish to go any further with the said transaction. We have made several previous attempts to collect these funds which all ended negatively. We are aware that a conflict search will need to be done. Please find below details of the owing company for your conflict check of interest.

    ABC Supply Co Inc
    2340 Rusmar St
    Cape Girardeau, MO 63703

    I indulge you to prepared and forwarded to us your engagement letter for proper review of your terms and conditions to know if we can employ your services as time is of essence and we would want this issue to be resolved ASAP., should this be in your scope of practice, documentation supporting the claim will be forwarded to you afterwards.
    We awaits your prompt response

    Best Regards,
    Steven Trescher.
    Director Harbex Metal Processing Ltd.
    High Oak Hill Works, Iwade Road,
    Newington, Sittingbourne, Kent, ME9 7HY.
    Tel: +44 702 403 0506
    Fax: +44 844 774 9716
    http://www.harbex.co.uk/


    Does anyone have a clue as to what the motives behind all of this may be???

    ReplyDelete
  16. Just got this today and knew that it's some sort of scam (haven't we all received a bunch of these?). But I poked back and said that I'd need to know who we're dealing with and where they are, etc., and got the same email about the 50% $700,000 deposit, as well as a phone call from someone with a thick Oriental-sounding accent who referenced the email they'd sent.

    I've been wondering how they make money on this. When I feel playful, I tell them that I'll take a large cashier's check to get started and they usually disappear. Another attorney I know played with the one about collecting on a divorce judgment and asked for a cashier's check for $350,000 to get started - and they sent him one. He had his assistant take it to the bank (Chase) to see if it was real, and they laughed and said it was counterfeit (of course). But how do they make money on this scam??

    ReplyDelete
  17. Just received this. I guess he's downgrading to a yahoo address.

    From: Steven Trescher [mailto:steven_trescher@yahoo.com]
    Sent: Wednesday, October 10, 2012 9:51 AM
    Subject: Collection Case

    I need a Business/Commercial litigation lawyer who can handle a collection issue. A referral would be welcomed if this is not your area of practice.


    Regards,
    Steven


    ReplyDelete
  18. Same here, just today:

    -----Original Message-----
    From: Steven Trescher [mailto:steven_trescher@yahoo.com]
    Sent: Sunday, October 14, 2012 1:27 PM
    Subject: Litigation

    I need a Business/Commercial litigation lawyer who can handle a collection issue. A referral would be welcomed if this is not your area of practice.

    ReplyDelete
  19. We wish to retain your services to represent Harbex Metal Processing Ltd to collect a debt owed in the amount of $700.000.00USD against the company below, Do forward your standard retainer for such collection for review should you want to represent us in this case, documentation supporting the claim will be forwarded to afterwards.

    ABC SUPPLY CO. INC.
    605 Cherry St
    Waco, TX 76704

    The debt was incurred as a result of their failure to deliver Industrial Equipments worth 1,400,000.00. of which 50% of the total sum was demanded before the delivery of the equipments, the payment was effected February of 2012 but as of now the equipment has not been delivered, we have made effort for the refund of the money owed to us but they still haven't responded in that regard. I hope you can assist us in getting our money back as we look forward to your prompt response and your retainer agreement.

    Regards,
    Mr Barry Perry.
    Director
    Harbex Metal Processing Ltd.
    High Oak Hill Works, Iwade Road,
    Newington, Sittingbourne, Kent, ME9 7HY.
    Tel: +44 702 404 1249
    Fax: +44 844 774 9716
    http://www.harbex.co.uk/

    ReplyDelete
  20. Does anyone know why these emails get sent? I mean I must get 2-3 per day from various folks wanting collection on an amount "in my jurisdiction/area/state." What is the catch? How are they getting money out of this? Because it seems to be just a waste of time rather than a way to scam us out of money. Does anyone know?

    ReplyDelete
  21. Our office received similar email but for ABC Supply Co in 530 James Street Lakewood Township, NJ 08701;

    These email are sent in hopes that the attorney will take the bait, send a Retainer Agreement and ask for a downpayment. The client then sends a fraudulent check saying that the opposing party decided to pay back all their debt. They tell the attorney to keep the amount of downpayment and wire the rest to them.

    They are hoping the attorney will not realize that the check is fraudulent. Attorney deposits fraudulent check, Then the scammer client tell the attorney that he must wire the money back at a certain out of country location by a specific day. If attorney is not careful to check if the check indeed has cleared, wiring the money back is their big prize. No one will be able to trace the account oversees.

    Fortunately in our case, we didn't see the check clear so we didn't do anything.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Latest version of this scam:


    We'll like to retain your firm's services to collect debt owed to us by the company below,The debt owed is $550,000.00USD, if this within your firm's capacity, then get back to me with your retainer agreement for review

    We are seeking to collect against the company below for breach of contract

    Crown Lift Trucks
    Northwest Handling Systems
    Spokane, WA 99206

    We awaits your prompt response

    Regards,
    Steven Larsen
    Director
    Harbex Metal Processing Ltd.
    High Oak Hill Works, Iwade Road,
    Newington, Sittingbourne, Kent, ME9 7HY.
    Tel: +44 702 403 0506
    Fax: 086 776 8317
    http://www.harbex.co.uk/

    ReplyDelete
  23. Interesting... I just got this today...

    Sender: Scott Steven
    Subject: I need a Broker
    Date: Mon, 07 Jan 2013 16:33:53 -0500
    To: undisclosed-recipients:;

    My Name is Scott Steven, i need a real estate broker who can help me purchase a property. A referral would be welcome if this is not your area of practice.

    Thanks,
    Scott Steven

    I replied offering to help this guy "Scott", but the reply went to scottsteven@harbexmp.com . not scottsteven@live.com
    I thought that was a little odd, so I did some digging and found this website, Thanks for everyones comments... obviously he's going to try to scam realtors now, somehow... So I'll keep you guys posted when he starts responding.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Thanks for posting this. Here is what I got today. I might have wasted a lot of time dealing with these people but for this blog. The parties are real companies, and they send a sort of real looking contract with a real person, so its a clever scam:

    Hello,

    How are you today? We would like to Thank you for your response to our

    inquiry for legal services.

    However,We wish to inform you that we would be needing your firms legal

    help to assist us with a breach of contract matter and also retrieve funds

    owed to our company.We ordered goods from ABC Supply Co.Inc and was asked

    to make a 50% down payment before goods will be delivered to us and that

    we did and up till date no goods

    were delivered nor was a refund made.We hereby seek legal help from your

    firm to help us collect this money owed to our company as we do not wish

    to go any further with the said transaction. We have made several previous

    attempts to collect these funds which all ended negatively.We are aware

    that a conflict search will
    need to be done.Please find below details of the owing company.

    Here is the name of our supplier for your conflict check of interest-


    ABC Supply Co.Inc
    18614 Jamaica Ave
    Jamaica, NY 11423

    In this email you will find attached contract,Email correspondence,copy of

    proof of payment for your perusal.We are prepared to pay a reasonable

    retainer fee for this service as soon as our board gets to review the

    terms of your engagement letter.So please have that sent to my attention

    via email if this is a case you are willing to
    handle.


    We would want your firm to Provide legal assistance, collect funds owed to

    us and bring actions in court against ABC Supply Co.Inc if the need be.We

    look forward to your prompt response to our email.we wanted to also inform

    you that the said funds owed to us has caused a great strain on our

    company's operational capital and
    want this issue resolved.

    We would like to know a few things about your firm and also how this case

    would be handled.Find our concerns and questions below.

    1. Have you handled cases like mine? Do you have a track record of

    success?

    2. What course of action would you recommend for my business dispute?

    3. What are the strengths and weaknesses of my case?

    4. Do you have extensive experience in cases like mine?

    5. Will you be handling my case personally?

    6. How do your fees work?

    7. How long have you been in practice?

    8. How strong is my case and what are the possible outcomes?

    9. How long do you think it will take to resolve this matter?

    10.How often will you communicate with me about my case status?

    11.Will you plan to pursue a settlement or fight for a court date? What

    about arbitration?

    12.Who else in your office will work on our case?

    13.What are our responsibilities in this case?



    However,if you are able to help us with legal services do have your

    retainer agreement prepared and forwarded to us for proper review of your

    terms and conditions to know if we can employ your services as time is of

    essence and we would want this issue to be resolved ASAP.


    Best Regards,

    Geoffrey Hugh O'Donnell
    Director
    Rollco Pty Limited
    22 Queen Street
    Revesby NSW 2212,Australia.
    +61 2 4022 9410

    ReplyDelete
  25. I wish to enquiry if your law office would be able to recover debt. The debt is as a result of goods ordered for. Please confirm if you can be of assistance so we can discuss terms of retention. A referral would be welcomed if this is not your area of practice.

    sent from: Bill Spooner [perrycole@harbexmp.co.uk]

    ReplyDelete
  26. Please let this email serve as our response regarding your firm representing our company. Find below our debtors information for a conflict check, before we can discuss terms of retention.

    Ctt Welding Supply
    3932 Shirley Drive SW
    Atlanta, GA 30336-1943

    sent from: Bill Spooner [perrycole@harbexmp.co.uk]

    We hope to hear from you at your earliest convenience.

    Sincerely,
    Perry Cole
    Director
    Harbex Metal Processing Ltd.
    High Oak Hill Works, Iwade Road,
    Newington, Sittingbourne, Kent, ME9 7HY.
    Tel: +44 703 596 8345
    Fax: +44 844 774 7789
    http://www.harbex.co.uk/

    ReplyDelete
  27. I just got this one with return address of tsteven@harexmp.com

    Good Day,


    I am contacting you in regards to a job offer that requires your attention and i believe you are capable of handling this job position. More information will be given to you upon confirmation of availability. I await your prompt response.


    Sincerely,
    Olson Sevsson

    ReplyDelete
  28. Here is one way these scams work.

    They retain you on contingency. They also operate the dummy Debtor. You contact the Debtor, who quickly throws out a big settlement number. Debtor mails you a check. The client insists on quick payment. You deposit it into your trust account, and forward the client's portion to it. Debtor's check, an international check, takes a few weeks to bounce. You have potentially sent good money (if your trust account can cover it) to the scammer.

    One way to avoid this is to always wait for an all clear from the trust account bank before you pay the client.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Just recently, I also received an e-mail like this:

    Julian Russ
    Wed, Sep 4, 2013 at 7:28 PM
    Why is this message in Spam? It's similar to messages that were detected by our spam filters. Learn more
    Reply-To: j.russltd@outlook.com

    I want to inquire if your firm handles breach of contract cases. A referral will be welcomed if this is not your area of practice.


    Julian Russ

    ReplyDelete
  30. Apparently Jeffery Huyler has sending messages for Mr, Perry Cole now. Maybe he knows tou guys have been taking to Mr. Trescher! :)

    Hello, We are in need of a commercial litigation lawyer to handle a collection matter. Please send your response to Mr. Perry Cole if this is your line of practice with the email below. harbexmetalprocessingltd@live.co.uk


    Thank you as we look forward to your response.



    Regards,

    Jeffrey.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Dear Counsel, We need a litigation lawyer who can handle a collection case. Please let me know if you can be of assistance to me or If not a referral could be helpful. Regards, Perry Cole.

    Hello, We are in need of a commercial litigation lawyer to handle a collection matter. Please we will need a referral if this is not your line of practice. Thank you as we look forward to your response. Regards, Perry Cole.

    ReplyDelete
  32. We require a lawyer with experience to represent us with a collection case.. Thanks, Perry

    ReplyDelete