This is priceless. I’m doing my morning download/debrief from all the media and legal sites I follow and I come across a gem from over at ABAJournal.com. It’s a story about a 50-year old con artist who—and here’s the priceless part—was SCAMMING LAW FIRMS.
You have to take pause with this one.
Not because the perp was charged with second-degree forgery and petit larceny—hopefully he wasn’t engaging in such activity as his catch-up plan for boosting retirement savings—but because of the nature of the scam itself.
Here’s the deal: apparently this guy calls law firms, says he’s “Jimmy” (aka James Hill) and that he “found” a package—on the subway–that was addressed to the aforementioned firm. Ok, perhaps Good Samaritan, right? But here’s where the scam part comes in. He tells whoever’s on the phone at the law firm that he will deliver the package if the firm pays for his cab fare.
Now, no, this is not some case of “please get a Moneygram wired to me at the corner of Walk and Don’t Walk” (yes, a nod to Lily Tomlin). No—this guy actually had a package that he would deliver. And then the law firm would reimburse “Jimmy” for his cab fare—and according the the abajournal post, sometimes that included tips!
That’s the low-down, and here’s my list of what’s wrong with this picture…
1. Crime scene is NYC. Is there any true, native New Yorker that would not raise an eyebrow upon receiving such a call?
2. It’s a law firm. These guys litigate this stuff all the time. Hello?
3. “Jimmy” “finds” the package on a subway. Ok, you could argue Read the rest of this entry »