Trying to scam an attorney?!
So I’m still trying to piece together the purpose of this scam, but I thought it was pretty ballsy.
Got a message from someone asking if I’m a trial attorney. I respond yes I am, and asked how I could help them. There was a little bit of a red flag because it was such a short email, and although I get clients asking for my services from all over the place, the brevity of the email was rather strange.
Shortly after I get a long email that reads the following:
“04/19/23
Dear [mispelled name]
I appreciate your timely response. Our company Xecon is having a breach of contract claim with Airgas Inc, please find below some facts of the issue.
In October 2020, we placed an order in Airgas of which the terms of the sale of contract states that we would need to pay 50% of the goods before delivery and the balance after the goods have been successfully delivered. Upon payment of the 50% deposit we did not receive any goods from Airgas, we gave them enough time to meet their own terms of the contract but it was to no avail. We then requested a refund due to the failure on the part of Airgas to deliver the goods; still they are yet to fully refund the initial 50% deposit we made. Hence we are seeking legal means to remedy the mishap. For your conflict check, below is the branch where contract was entered into.
Airgas, Inc USA
Because of the failure of this business transaction; Xecon has suffered irreparable loss and we are ready to take legal steps due to the breach in agreement on the part of Airgas. Kindly let us know the best way to resolve the issue and we will do everything within our power to achieve it. Attorney I will appreciate if you spell out your retainer fee as well as your charge per hour, so I can avail you with documents pertaining to this case. Lastly, base on the merit of our claim are there any guarantee regarding the outcome of this dispute. Thank you
Attorney I will appreciate if you spell out your retainer fee as well as your charge per hour, so I can avail you with documents pertaining to this case. Lastly, base on the merit of our claim are there any guarantee regarding the outcome of this dispute. Thank you.”
End of quote.
A ton of red flags immediately went up, but For fun, I just messaged them my normal hourly rate. The last email was more info about “Airgas, Inc.” stating that it was a company incorporated in the USA. By this time I’m 100% sure it’s a scam, because no corporation is incorporated “in the USA”, since all entities are registered to a particular state. I dig into airgas, and it’s a small real branch* in my city but likely doesn’t know what’s going on. Thing is, I dont know what the scam is. They basically asked me if I would take the case, and put it out as some multi million dollar breach of contract deal. What kind of scam are they running that they think they can rope an attorney into?