[RPPTL-constructionlaw] FW: CLIENT SCAM ALERT RELATING TO CONSTRUCTION ATTORNEYS (FROM Broward County Bar Association Real Property Section)

Thu Oct 6 12:59:26 PDT 2011

My apologies, I did the thing I swore I would never do, reply to the
world.  Sorry all!  

Kathleen E. Bente, Esquire

David J. Valdini & Associates, P.A.

5353 North Federal Highway, Suite 303

Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33308

Telephone: (954) 776-8115

Facsimile: (954) 776-8298

kbente at valdinilaw.com

www.valdinilaw.com

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From: constructionlaw-bounces at lists.flabarrpptl.org
[mailto:constructionlaw-bounces at lists.flabarrpptl.org] On Behalf Of
Randall Gilbert
Sent: Thursday, October 06, 2011 3:30 PM
To: RPPTL constructionlaw
Subject: [RPPTL-constructionlaw] FW: CLIENT SCAM ALERT RELATING TO
CONSTRUCTION ATTORNEYS (FROM Broward County Bar Association Real
Property Section)

Sincerely yours,

Randall Gilbert, Esq.

Board Certified Construction Lawyer

From: Gary M. Singer [mailto:gary at gardenhometitle.ccsend.com] On Behalf
Of Gary M. Singer
Sent: Thursday, October 06, 2011 2:46 PM
To: Randall Gilbert
Subject: Broward County Bar Association Real Property Section

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Broward County Bar Association

Attention: Real Property Section Members

Thanks to M. Scott Kleiman of Kalis & Kleiman for bringing this scam to
our attention and allowing us to share it with you.

 scam
alert<http://ih.constantcontact.com/fs002/1102378673872/img/122.jpg> 

My office was contacted through Avvo, a professional social networking
site about a matter which is a London-based scam. In this very well
constructed scam, an alleged architect by the name of Ken Greig is
claiming that he is due about $100,000.00 for design work done for a
Coral Gables couple, Bruno Gorgatti and Julianne Pavageau. Gorgatti and
Pavageau are real people living in Coral Gables. Greig provides
significant and detailed information about how he met Gorgatti and
Pavageau, the work he contracted to do, how Gorgatti and Pavageau paid
for the work, etc. There is a signed contract for the work for about
$200,000. The information on the property and how Gorgatti and Pavageau
acquired it - a purchase from a bank after a foreclosure is entirely
accurate. There is even a professional multipage website for the
architectural firm that performed the work.  All emails are signed:

Ken Greig

 Greig & Stephenson
St. Margaret's House
18-20 Southwark Street
London SE1 1TJ
M: +44 (0) 702 4043235 (Mobile)
 T / +44 (0)20 3286 9866 (Office)
F / +44 (0)20 3286 9888  (Office Fax)

Company No: 310 1088

VAT No:672306934

 Directions / Greig & Stephenson is on the corner of Southwark Street
and Stoney Street close to London Bridge with its numerous bus and
mainline train services. The Northern (City Branch) and Jubilee tube
lines both serve the nearby London Bridge underground station. Leave the
platforms following the signs to Borough High Street - the steps up to
the right after the barriers bring you almost to the door.

-- 

Greig wants to retain you so he can use your office's name as "local
counsel" in the effort to collect the remaining amounts. He then
notifies you that he has contacting Gorgatti, who will be delivering a
check to pay the balance and, for the use of your name, you can retain a
disproportionate fee, in the case with my office, he proposed $5,000.00
as a legal fee for less than an hour of work. A few days later a
cashier's check drawn on SunTrust arrives payable to your firm. It is an
actual SunTrust cashier's check; however, it has been "washed" so as to
alter the amounts, the payee and the memo information.  In the case
involving my office, the cashier's check had been issued 4 months
earlier for $9500.00. SunTrust indicated that there were other minor
alterations as well.  I gathered that information by taking the  a copy
of the check to a local branch. It was not until 3 days later that
SunTrust gave actual notification that the check was not good.

There were telling signs after the initial contact that this could be a
scam. The consistent refusal of Greig to permit any contact with
Gorgatti or Pavageau was one. Some of the subsequent emails had those
"catch" phrases you find in the clear scam emails - such as closing with
"greetings to" or "my best to you and your family", and "my hopes that
you have a good day."  The email in which the fact that a check will be
arriving notes that it will be arriving by United States Postal Service
and then it shows up by FedEx International from London. As soon as the
check arrives, Greig begins calling looking for disbursement by wire.  

These individual factors were enough to question the legitimacy of this
matter, even before the check arrived. The Secret Service indicated that
this was one of the better constructed scams targeting attorneys.
Several South Florida firms were contacted by Greig. Apparently, some
losses were suffered by Atlanta attorneys who failed to wait on the
clearance of the cashier's check prior to wiring out funds in a similar
scam run there.

This and the other examples provided are good reasons to have funds
wired to you instead of delivered by cashier's check, particularly where
banks are not clearing those funds immediately.

M. Scott Kleiman, Esq.

Kalis & Kleiman, P.A.
7320 Griffin Road, Suite 109
Davie, Florida 33314
Telephone: 954-791-0477
Office Fax : 954-791-0506
Direct E-Mail: SKleiman at KalisKleiman.com
Office E-Mail: KalisKleiman at KalisKleiman.com
Website:  www.Kaliskleiman.com
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Best Regards,

Gary M. Singer

Serving Families and Businesses

Law Firm of Gary M. Singer, P.A.

4577 Nob Hill Road

Suite 206

Sunrise, FL 33351

ph. 954-851-1448

fax 954-252-2189

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