There’s a new breed of scam in town. Fraudsters are contacting lawyers with claims that their former spouses have failed to honour collaborative family law agreements. I personally have received one of these emails, and so have several of my colleagues.

The email looks like this:

Dear Counsel,
My name is [**].  I am contacting your firm in regards to a
divorce settlement with my ex husband [**] who resides in
your jurisdiction.
I am currently on assignment in S.Korea. We had an out of court
agreement (Collaborative Law Agreement) for him to pay $648,450.00
plus legal fees. He has only paid me $148,000 since.
I am hereby seeking your firm`s assistance in collecting the balance
from him.He has agreed already to pay me the balance but it is my
belief that a Law firm like yours is needed to help me
collect/enforce payment from my ex-husband or litigate this matter if
he fails to pay as promised.
Your’s truly,
[**]

At least one lawyer has fallen victim to this scam, LAWPRO (Lawyer’s Professional Indemnity Company) reports.

The classic red flags are absent. The email is reasonably well-written with intelligent vocabulary. There’s no mention of a contingency fee (which would have been illegal in Ontario). The people behind the scheme are consistent and convincing.

According to LAWPRO, once the initial inquiry gets a response, the fraudsters promptly provide seemingly legitimate settlement papers. When the lawyer asked for a retainer agreement be executed, the fraudsters would promptly comply and promise  to pay the standard hourly rate with retainer money that will arrive shortly.

However, the case goes rather smoothly. No litigation ever happens. After a demand letter. the debtor spouse’s cheque arrives earlier than the retainer money from the “client.” The “client” then comes up with a sob story and pressure the lawyer to wire the money overseas citing financial hardship. The lawyer wire the money out after deducting the legal fees. A happy ending right?

Wrong. The cheque turns out to be a fake and the lawyer ends up with a shortfall in the trust account.

If you examine the email carefully, there are a few items that are indicative of a scam.

For example,  the terms used in the email are generic: “Dear Counsel” rather than “Mr.” or “Ms.”; “residing in your jurisdiction” rather than “living in Ontario”; “your firm” rather than the firm’s name. In other words, this email comes from a cookie cutter and couldbe applicable anywhere.

Beware of scams! If a deal goes a little bit too smoothly, you may want to hold on to the funds held in trust a little longer.