Lawyers – Beware of Internet Scams

If you get an inquiry from a person who claims to be unlawfully terminated from UnitedHealth Group, but you see that the email is from someone at uniitedhealthgroup.com [notice the “ii” misspelling in “uniited”] and communicating to you from a gmail account, it’s a scam. Do not accept United’s quick settlement because their check will not end up clearing. Indeed, beware of situations when the other party is willing to settle too soon and then your client wants the payout ASAP. The check will never really clear and your bank will make you responsible for the loss. Always make sure that the money has cleared from the payor’s bank into your account, which, in my experience, can sometimes take several days if it’s overseas, but apparently, it can possibly take weeks. “Available” funds does not mean that the funds have “cleared.” Apparently, even if the bank negligently represents that the funds have cleared, a lawyer could still be liable. See Chino Commercial Bank, N.A. v. Peters (2010) 190 Cal.App.4th 1163 [118 Cal.Rptr.3d 866]. Even if you spoke to the client on the phone, it could still be a scam. I represent clients around the world who are not scam artists or impatient about me working on their matter until after the payment has cleared. If you’re working on contingency, do not transfer any money out of your account until after the payment has cleared and you can ascertain from the payor’s bank that the instrument is authentic or the transfer was valid. For more information, see: http://ethics.calbar.ca.gov/…/Ethics_Hotliner-Internet_Scam…

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