Another Scam Targets Lawyers: Pay My Cab Fare and I'll Return Your Package
Amid reports that law firms are being targeted in high-dollar international “settlement” check frauds comes news that at least one enterprising criminal right here in the United States is successfully scamming attorneys in a far less ambitious con.
A man who has often identified himself as “Jimmy” has contacted at least two dozen New York law firms claiming to have found a package of documents from another law firm that has been left on the subway. Victims have paid up to $100 to cover round-trip cab fare and a reward for the alleged out-of-state resident, only to discover that the package contains multiple copies of a New York State Insurance Fund certificate of insurance, according to a New York Law Journal article reprinted in New York Lawyer (reg. req.).
Among those victimized was Susan Millington Campbell of Hughes Hubbard & Reed. When a man who said he was from Atlanta called and said he’d found a package addressed to her from another firm, she didn’t want to take a chance.
“I’m a litigation partner,” she tells the legal publication. “At any one time you’re expecting papers of one sort or another, and you don’t want to think that they’re on the subway some place lost.”
Both NYSIF and the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office are investigating.
