Before I was a little wiser, I engaged in a couple of email conversations with scammers purporting to need legal services. After I responded to one email in particular, the scammer explained that he worked for a company in London seeking to collect on a debt owed by a certain company at an address in Poulsbo. I was a little suspicious, so I did a little research and couldn’t find any company by that name or at that address. My response to the author was as follows:

Mr. L, at the risk of causing offense, I need to ask for some verification. You need to understand that I receive almost daily emails from scam artists purporting to seek legal services.

You will need to provide me with some credentials demonstrating your association with this company, LF. Also, I’m going to insist that you call me to discuss this matter further. If I’m satisfied that this is not a scam, then I’m happy to discuss this further.

Needless to say, I never heard from Mr. L again.

Now that I’m a little wiser, it has become easier to distinguish the scammers from those people who are truly seeking legal help. Here’s an example of a scam email I received not too long ago:

Dear Counsel,

I am seeking legal representation from your law firm regarding a breach of divorce settlement Agreement I had with my ex husband who now resides in your jurisdiction. We had an out of court agreement for him to pay me $578,000.00 plus legal fees. He has only paid me $78,000 ever since this agreement was reached. So it is my belief that a Law firm like yours is needed to help me collect my due settlement from my ex-husband or litigate this matter if need be.

I need proper legal advice and assistance to know the best way to handle this issue. If this is your area of practice, please contact me to provide you with further Information.

Regards,

T.

Here is another example:

Dear Counsel

My name is Mrs. HT. I am contacting your firm in regards to a divorce settlement with my ex husband MT who resides in your jurisdiction.
I am currently on assignment in South Korea. We had an out of court agreement for him to pay $496,500,00 plus legal fees. He has only paid me $183,000.00 .

I am hereby seeking your firm’s assistance in collecting the balance from him or litigate this matter if he fails to pay as promised because He has delayed for too long.
If you are in the position to represent me at the moment kindly advice immediately via my email: <>@hotmail.com

Your’s Truly,
HT.

These are not a genuine requests for legal help. First, notice the authors never mention my name. I’m simply called “Counsel”. Second, the authors do not mention where I am located.  They simply say, “in your jurisdiction”. The authors plainly have no idea that my office is in Poulsbo, Kitsap County, Washington. This email could have been sent to every attorney in the country (and it probably has).

I am puzzled what these scammers expect to get from us.  It’s not like attorneys are in the business of sending money to clients.  If you have any ideas, I sure would like to know.

If you want to send me an email, I’m happy to respond. But as a caution, be sure to use my real name, and not “Counsel”. And be sure to add some specific details. Otherwise, it might accidentally end up in my spam folder.