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SALT LAKE CITY -- A new e-mail scam that targets attorneys is so convincing it nearly duped a half dozen of them out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. In fact, one attorney was led right to the brink of a big loss before his bank blew the whistle.
This Internet scam is a variation on confidence tricks, like the Nigerian Letter, in which the target is persuaded to wire a large sum of money to the scammer. In this case, Zions Bank alone has caught the crime for six of its customers -- all of whom are attorneys.
"The transaction itself was not unusual, per se," said attorney Michael L. Deamer, who has 37 years of experience practicing law and previously served as deputy attorney general for Utah.
Deamer regularly handles business transactions for Canadian clients who may transfer hundreds of thousands of dollars to his accounts; so an e-mail from Ontario requesting his legal services did not set off alarms.
"I had no reason to believe, at any point in time, that this wasn't anything other than a legitimate legal transaction similar to ones I've handled in the past," he said.
Here's what happened: On Sept. 22, Deamer got an e-mail from a person identifying himself as "Peter Buma of Ontario," requesting legal services on collection of a $350,000 promissory note. Deamer e-mailed Buma a retainer agreement, which Buma signed, and they exchanged several more e-mails.
The lawyer then got a UPS shipment of a $300,000 cashier's check, drawn on Chase Bank, payable to Deamer's firm.
"I contacted him by e-mail and he said, 'Just deposit it and take out your fee and send the money,'" the attorney said.
Deamer deposited the check but was not going to forward any money back to Canada until Zions Bank told him the check cleared. It's a good thing he didn't.
"A few days later, the lady at Zions Bank called and said the check was fraudulent," Deamer said.
Had Zion' Bank not blown the whistle on the bogus check, Deamer says he would have wired the money to the scammer.
Francine Giani, executive director of the Utah Department of Commerce, wants to alert all attorneys about this scam. She says it is not that different than others in recent years, except the targets are all attorneys.
"Why would someone send you maybe three or four times the amount of what you're asking in a check?" Giani said. "That doesn't smell right, does it?"
When Deamer realized it was a scam, he contacted the FBI. He no longer believes the scammer was ever in Ontario.
"We don't know where in the entire world this thing is originating from," he said.
Zions Bank flagged six other bogus checks related to the same scam. The state's Division of Consumer Protection is not aware of any lawyer who has lost money in this scam.
E-mail: jboal@ksl.com
