Scammers Part 3 "Astro Boy" edition

Reporting on scams has become something of a tradition around here. In order to pull off a good con, the scam artist needs to know something about the psychology of its mark.

 It does the con-artist no good to offer to split a giant pile of bacon with a vegan (however delicious that concepts sounds). 
So to, do IP scammers know their audience. 

While not a new scam, the following letter was recently received in our offices: 

From: Osamu Tezuka Makoto [mailto:osatemakoto@gmail.com]

Sent: July 30, 2013 1:11 PM

To: Firm

Subject: Legal Rep

Dear Attorney,

We are a media publishing company in Japan. We have a breach of intellectual property agreement matter in your jurisdiction, we can forward you the agreement and 5195842743_2305>

Yours Sincerely,

Osamu Tezuka Makoto

Tezuka Production Company

4-32-11, Takadanobaba

Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 169-075

Japan

Tel: +81333716411

Email: osatemakoto@gmail.com

http://tezukaosamu.net/jp

After some further digging the "client" told us that :

"We are  the owner of rights in a collection of animated characters including Astro Boy.  Springer Publishing of New York City failed to make a required payment upon termination of an intellectual property agreement between the us ."  

On its face, it seams like a golden opportunity  You, sitting in your office, business development book out to the "how to attract clients" chapter, gets this e-mail. You think, "sweet!" all that networking is paying off. Not only with new clients, but internationally famous IP clients. You do some due diligence, both the company, the IP and the opposing party seem legit.  Or do they. Why would a production company trading in a famous brand like Astro Boy communicate with a gmail address. Why would they contact you out of the blue, with no preface or introduction. Why call you "attorney"? 

The details of how this scam plays out differ from mark to mark, but the concept is pretty simple. Tezuka and Sterling (even though these are real valid companies) are setups, honey pots. You are supposed to Google them, see they are real, and rub your hands together in expectation of easy and significant billings. 

In reality, the contact info above, and the contact info they give you for the point of contact at "Sterling" are to the same entity. Once you negotiate a settlement, with a hefty retainer for your trouble, the money gets transferred to your firms' bank-account by a very slow validating banking institution. 

Because the client and the opposing counsel are the same entity, they know when the "money" was transferred  You, the successful hard litigating, hard negotiating lawyer, soon gets a call from the grateful client asking you to forward the money, minus your fees, of course. 

Now, some attorneys will wait until the check has fully cleared before sending on the money. Some will resist, until the client mentions that there are other people who owe them money, and they would like to retain you for future matters.  Either way, some lawyers will send a check, secure in the knowledge that the money in is the bank. 

The problem is, that the money isn't in the bank.  That slow moving bank transfer suddenly shows up as a cancelled check. Now the firm is out some hundreds of thousands of dollars. When you call Sterling and Tezuka, neither of them have ever heard of you. They have their own lawyers, who are you? You have to go to the Executive Committee and explain why you gave away the farm for some magic beans.  

You, my friend, have been scammed. Something for nothing is usually that...