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

Fri Oct 7 06:25:43 PDT 2011

As part of my practice, I deal with the UCC and various regulations concerning banks, deposits, negotiable instruments, etc. (Sorry if I am causing flashbacks to your secured transactions class in law school). Anyway, the attorney in this case did all the correct things. But the key to avoiding getting scammed is to talk to your bank in their language, not normal every day terms.

When you ask a banker if a "check has cleared" or if "are the funds available", these don't really mean the same thing to your banker as they may mean to you. Regulation CC requires a bank to make a certain amount of funds available after a deposit based on several factors. For instance, a cashier's check must be available the next business day. However, this does not mean the check has been accepted by the issuing bank or that the check is "good." The funds are "available" from the bank's own funds but since the check may still be subject to dishonor, the deposit is also subject to being reversed. That is actually how people get burned because they wire the money out based on the funds being available, possibly not realizing that the check is still subject to dishonor. Then, the deposit reversed and they bear the loss, not the bank.

The most important question to ask is whether the check has finally settled or just wait several business days before wiring any funds out. The final "settlement" of the check pretty much binds the parties to the check under the UCC and Regulation CC. If the "client" complains about waiting that's unfortunate but you can always blame the Federal regulators for the delay. If the client is legitimate, the check will settle and the money may be distributed.

Helen Albee
Henrichsen Siegel, P.L.L.C.
1648 Osceola Street
Jacksonville, FL  32204
(904) 381-8183
(904) 381-8191 [fax]
halbee at hslawyers.com<mailto:halbee at hslawyers.com>
www.hslawyers.com<http://www.hslawyers.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

[cid:image001.jpg at 01CC84D1.77BB0BC0][cid:image002.gif at 01CC84D1.77BB0BC0]

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.

[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
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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

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Garden Home Title | 4577 Nob Hill Road | Suite 206 | Sunrise | FL | 33351

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