I saw an interesting case the other day out of Ohio that gives some hope to the many lawyers who have been victims of “phishing” scams wherein they deposited counterfeit checks into their clients’ funds accounts, wire money to scammers and then belatedly learn that they have depleted their IOLTA accounts when the phony checks bounce.
This has been going on for some time, and will continue as long as there is a limitless pool of crooks with access to the Internet and a concomitantly limitless pool of credulous lawyers. While it all began with the Nigerian Prince scam (“I have inherited a gazillion dollars and you can have half if you would just send me some money for postage”) and now involves phony invoices sent for collection where the debtor immediately tenders payment, phony family decrees (same thing) and phony retainers where the work is cancelled and the client asks for their money back less 20 percent for doing nothing. (When was the last time a real client told you to keep a part of an unearned fee?)
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