Careful with Scammers Posing as Spanish Lawyers
Within the last year we’ve seen an alarming increase in the number of queries regarding the legitimacy of certain Spanish law firms and lawyers. These companies are in fact non-existent and act only as shelter companies devised to fleece foreigners offering them dubious legal services often related to some murky financial interest, which is in the end nothing but some sort of advance fee fraud (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Advance_fee_fraud). Foreigners should be well advised that these scammers pass themselves off as legitimate Spanish law firms and lawyers. They prey exclusively on foreigners and are in fact not even Spanish themselves. Their command of English is very good.
Spanish lawyers belong to one of the numerous Bar Associations that sprawl throughout Spain. There are a total of 83. Every lawyer member of a BA will have a registered number. It is very easy to check in less than a minute if a Spanish lawyer is legitimate, providing he is in fact registered of course.
These fraudsters will always contact you to offer legal assistance in some service of which you by chance are the sole lucky beneficiary. The potential reward to reap is huge (hundreds of thousands if not millions) in exchange of a reasonable legal fee which in comparison doesn’t seem like much. The preffered contact method is email (which they may follow up by ordinary post), and they will offer you either of the following legal “services”:
- Letting you know that after a long and winding investigation it has surfaced that you are the sole live beneficiary of a considerable Spanish inheritance from some distant relative you had in Spain (unbeknown to you) that has sadly passed away.
- Offering you to join group actions to recover deposits from bogus resale time share companies in ongoing court proceedings (Reclaim Certificates (http://www NULL.thisismoney NULL.co NULL.uk/news/columnists/article NULL.html?in_article_id=401923&in_page_id=19&in_author_id=5)).
- Notifying you that you have won the Spanish Lottery (despite never having played it) or that you have been selected in a random draw and are now the lucky beneficiary of a special promotion from the generous Spanish Lotto Administration.
- Contacting you regarding using your bank account, in exchange of a sizeable commission, for some million dollar bank transfer with origin in some dodgy place in Africa. This is known as the Nigerian Letters.
- Offer to assist you in the verification and payment of unclaimed funds located in Spain of which you happen to be the only beneficiary.
An example of enquiries about such bogus firms are the following:
- Martinez e Beneficio (http://www NULL.marbella-lawyers NULL.com/forums/showthread NULL.php?t=117)
- Alberto Ganez Y Socio (http://www NULL.marbella-lawyers NULL.com/forums/showthread NULL.php?t=155)
- Perez, Gonzalez and Associates (http://www NULL.marbella-lawyers NULL.com/forums/showthread NULL.php?t=97) & Perez, Carrera and Associates (http://www NULL.marbella-lawyers NULL.com/forums/showthread NULL.php?t=97)
Our recommendation, as always, is to never ever pay moneys upfront if you have the slightest suspicion about the legitimicay of the people you are dealing with.
We have compiled a list of bogus law firms (http://www NULL.marbella-lawyers NULL.com/forums/showthread NULL.php?t=382)which is continously updated.
Other interesting related links:
- Protecting Yourself from Pyramid or “Ponzi” Schemes – 21st February 2009
- Fraudulent sell of shares from Spain – Boiler rooms (http://www NULL.fsa NULL.gov NULL.uk/pages/Doing/Regulated/Law/Alerts/overseas NULL.shtml) UK FSA’s link.
- Timeshare resellers: Be careful! (http://www NULL.marbella-lawyers NULL.com/articles/showArticle/timeshare-reselling-scam) – 23rd of August 2001
- Lottery Fraud: Yet Another Scam (http://www NULL.marbella-lawyers NULL.com/articles/showArticle/gordo-sweepstakes-scam) – 24th September 2001
- Is the ‘El Gordo Lottery Sweepstake Company’ a genuine company? (http://www NULL.marbella-lawyers NULL.com/questions/showQuestion/133-Is-the-%27El-Gordo-Lottery-Sweepstake-Company%27-a-genuine--company-)
- European Mediation Limited (http://www NULL.marbella-lawyers NULL.com/forums/showthread NULL.php?t=77)
- Bogus Holiday Club Membership (mostly in Canaries) (http://www NULL.marbella-lawyers NULL.com/forums/showthread NULL.php?t=365)
Note that they are all scams, invariably, and generally run by Nigerians.
Add this one to the list:
Barrister: Mrs. Carmen Castel Cruz
Gils Abogados Associates
Valencia, Spain.
She has U.S. $ 13.3 Mill. waiting for me in a trunk!
Gracefully she will share it 50/50 with me.
How stupid do these people think one is?!?
Complete with Tel. no., email address and address, most likely phoney.
Is it not possible to shut these fraudsters down and lock them up at Guantanamo Bay?
Interesting. Is there anything that CAN’T be Googled? We received a letter (through regular mail) from a Gomez Garrido Abogados Logrono. He gave us a telephone number, an e-mail address and even a website: http://www.gomezgarrido.com (http://www NULL.gomezgarrido NULL.com) He claims that a he is a Spanish attorney to a lond-dead client, that he’s tried to track down the next of kin but couldn’t and that he will split 10 1/2 million Euros with us if we sign a form stating that we are the next of kin. What ‘Mr. Gomez’ doesn’t know is that my grandfather actually did die in Spain and that he was a business man (who went bankrupt shortly before his death), so when we first received this letter we thought “Oh my god, could this be true? Did my grandfather have a large sum of money stashed in a Spanish bank?” It all seemed a bit sketchy, especially because he got my grandfather’s last name and first initial right, but completely missed the mark on his actual first name. Must have gotten his name and initial out of some death registry or something. So, I Googled it and sure enough found your Scam Alert website. Thank god! The company website he listed (as above) looks TOTALLY legit. I’ve got to say they will go to great lengths to make it look like they are legitimate.
we got the same letter yesterday in Australia from Gomez Garrido, as did my parents in Australia from the same company for $10.5M but linked to my family surname.
i also checked the company website and noted the email address in the letter is spelt gomes and on the website is spelt gomez. For this reason I thought this one may actually be a legit website, but the scammer is just trying to catch the people emailing them back via the address they leave on the letter.
The envelope had spanish postage stamps on it and was stamped as being sent from Valencia (Correos CTA Valencia 19/4/12-16)
I got sent the letter and he( Gomez Garrido) even rang me in Australia from Spain.He was very articulate and claimed the Spanish authorities would have got him by now if he was not legitimate. He made lot of references to the law and for a scam its very convincing. As usual if it sounds too good to be true, it is too good to be true!
Received a letter in Toronto from Barrister George Green of Merit Abogados Madrid Spain. He claimed that he is looking for his late client next of kin who died with his family during their short holiday in Myanmar Burma in May, 2008 during the Cyclone Nargis. Leaving a 8.8M unclaimed inheritance to be split as 3.9M to me and 4.8M to him, if I pose as a relative (since I have the same last name), and claimed the vault before it is seized and confiscated by authorities.
Isn’t this too good to be true !!! Hello, this is the age of the GOOGLE and FACEBOOK and everything can be verified in the internet.
@Elena
I received excatly the same letter, i email him back asking him about if he wantig some money or if not money it will be identy theft, and guess what i didn’t get no response. SCAM!! He wanted me fax my passport or my driver’s license
Letter from Oscar Hernandez Bufete from Madrid in Spain offers 50/50 split on 8.6 $ million from distant relative who died.
Provided cell phone numbers as his office and fax.
What an idiot!
my son just got one of these through the post in london today, from alexander santos advocats barrister and esq attorney for a later supposed relative, whom has left my son over nine million euros, they are using an address in spain and a gmail account
Received a letter from Peter Hostnik at Isemba Associates and Advocates in Madrid, Spain on their letterhead with address and telephone and fax number. Some poor grammar and English made me a bit suspicious. Did email a reply and have had email contact with him since. He says because we have the same last name as this person who died in the tsunami we will inherit over $10 million. Has never asked for any banking info or requested any fees…yet. Says will split the $10 M 50/50! Today I received another letter from same firm etc. but different “lawyer”, Dona Gadbois, and client name is different. Faxed it to the first lawyer. Lots of scam info on net- not too difficult to figure it out as a scam. I might continue til they ask for money just to see how it goes!! 🙂
Wow. Imagine… my long-lost Steven died in that same cyclone leaving me the same amount to be split the exact same way!!! But why is the so-called Barrister George Green taking over 50% if this really were true? And I’m pretty sure Green is not a name used in Spain…
HA HA, I received the same letter with the same story!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I guess George Green is out of luck!
@Elena
I too received a letter today from George Green of Merit Abogados Madrid Spain. Same deal.
I feel sorry for people who take this seriously but hopefully most of us know by now what seems to be too good to be true, is indeed too good to be true!
Is there any way to report these f’ers?
My husband received the same letter as Daniel, 50/50 split of $8.6 million with Oscar Hernandez Bufete. Not the first time we have received a letter like this but definitely the more legit looking. These people really need to find something better to do with their lives, like getting a real job. I hope people do their research before they even think of responding to letters like these. That what I did and that’s why I found this website. Something the internet has done right for people.
Mr Green and his associates from Merit Abogados have been trying now for the past 4 years with the same urgency and time lines, in fact the previous barrister must have retired because Mr. Green is now in charge of my file for 2012 lol. WARNING! not even to tell these guys off! attempt to contact them! some how a twist of the words will take place and you will be on the hook for nonexisting legal services that some how you authorized them to provide while telling them off.
@Liz
I just got the same letter Liz. I guess I’m at least one person you will be sharing the 10 mil with lol.
Please check this for me and let me know the results:
Another inheritance scammer:
Barrister Leon Bufete Esq
donbufeteleon@yahoo.es (donbufeteleon null@null yahoo NULL.es), barr_bufeteleon@gmx.com (barr_bufeteleon null@null gmx NULL.com)
passport A008-4075-C, DOB 14/10/62
Using account:
BANK NAME: BANCAJA
ACCOUNT NAME: RAMOS CAARLOS
IBAN CODE: ES 59 2077 0770 4316 0083 9119
SWIFT CODE: CVALES V V X X X
BANK ADDRESS: AVENIDA DE FRANCIA 47, 046023, SPAIN
Using deposit name:
CASH & STOCK SECURITY S.L
EMAIL ADDRESS: info@casscosl.com (info null@null casscosl NULL.com)
Mr. Miguel Rodriguez
TEL: +34632021544
FAX: +34 960 452 618
I received a letter dated Jun. 13/2012 with the same modus operandi naming himself as Barrister Oscar Hernandez Bufete with Bufete Martin Hernandez & Asociados Spain offering the same scheme and would like to caution the people all over the world not to fall to this fraudulent scheme too.
@Daniel
Same guy, same deal, same b.s.
@Trina
Again, I got a letter from the same guy, same deal, and same b.s.
I receive a similar letter in canada, from Barrister Dona Gadboisdonagadboispvtesq@gmail.com (Gadboisdonagadboispvtesq null@null gmail NULL.com)
10 millions in a trunk box…
it seems that number starting with +34 are cell number
very funny
Like Daniel, I have received a generous offer from Oscar Hernandez Bufete in Madrid, for a 50/50 split on $8.6 million. It’s amazing how many multimillionaires perished in that 2004 tsunami!
I received text below. Luckly I know my family tree and history.
I’m not going to even answer.
Dear …..
I know it might be s surprise to you when you receive my email letter, since there was no previous correspondence between us. I am a Personal Attorney to Late Mr. Bruno ……, who was a petrol-chemical engineer originally from your country. He worked for Oil Company here in Spain for many years before his death in a car crash with the entire family.
It was on my scrupulous exploration for a reliable someone whose surname tallies with that of my late client by so responsibility; I came across your name and contact through the chambers of commerce because you have the same last name with my deceased client.
I need your help in repatriate the funds left behind by my late client (Mr. Bruno ……), before he died with his entire family in a car crash. Every attempt to trace any member to his family has not been successful. I will give you more information upon your response to this letter.
Whereas this fund valued US $10.5M, with his properties which I will give you more details with my full-contact information’s and my ID upon your responds to this email for security reasons.
Regards,
Abogado Gomez Garrido
(Attorney at Law)
I received a letter recently in Italy! Saying that someone with the same sur name had died in Spain i & has no living relatives &after a search I came up. Saying I’m getting $ 7.500,000 – Frank Necolas Martinez from
M & F ABOGADOS
Address: Ronda de Atocha, 2 28012 Madrid
Tel: +34 602 476 895 / +34 634 179 068
Fax: +34 911 820 164
Email: martinez.abogado@gmx.es (martinez NULL.abogado null@null gmx NULL.es)
franknecolasmartinez@gmail.com (franknecolasmartinez null@null gmail NULL.com)
@a Sadly there are no millions, this is just another scam.
Hopefully your scammer’s website will die soon.
If the website seems real http: // casscosl.com it is because it is simply stolen web content. See http://badwhois.info/?p=72 (http://badwhois NULL.info/?p=72) for a full discussion on where this website etc was stolen from.
Les hago saber que nuestra firma de abogados no está detrás de este envío masivo de correos, de hecho lo hemos puesto en conocimiento de la policía española, así mismo informarles que en dichas cartas aparece gomes y no gomez. Les ruego comuniquen a las autoridades de sus países la recepción de estas cartas. @Sas
Barrister: Silvio Bowman
Company: Silbow Lawyers & Partners (Abogados Lawyers)
Address: C/Zurbano 44, 28003 Madrid Espana
Tel: 0034672501589
Fax: 0034917692690
Email: barr.silviobowman@yahoo.es (barr NULL.silviobowman null@null yahoo NULL.es)
Consignment: US $8.7m
I got a letter today … but he called SILVIO BOWMAN … … I run it as far as I can to want money from me just to see what happens … hahaha write when I know more ….
Received a letter from SB Martin Abogado & Partners (Barrister Silvio Martin). My “relative” left 8.7 million US and Martin will help me collect before the money is confiscated by the Spanish government. Printed on a bad ink-jet, posted from Spain.
I got caught in a scam I think 8.2mill.split in half ,paid $.5.200 fees….now he wanted euros 3.000 for shipment for a vault, but I was refused to send the money they said it is a scam bless Canada you never learn
scammer is:
Barrister Silvio Bowman of Silbow Abogados & Partners
c7zurbano 44
28003 Madrid.
i ve got a letter from hem with the message
a family member, he died with his wife and family during the Tsunami ter on december 26, 2004
there are waiting 8.7 million dollars. hahahahahahaha what a joke!!!!
do you know who is gil abogados.com.HE want split with me 16,800000us dollars.My father supposed died in dec 2004 by the tunami in Thailand.Do you have a recent experience?
Wow, we are all so RICH! (at least on paper!) I received mine in the mail last week – my “relative” died with his entire family in the Madrid train bombing in 2004 and they can’t seem to find any relatives to claim the 7.5 million dollars!
I have been emailing with the “lawyer” Sr. Alejandro Romero Santos LL.M from AR Associates Lawyers (at Calle Villanueva 24, 28001 Madrid Spain)and he has even phoned to Canada to speak with me on the phone. Seems HIS concern is that the cheque will have to be written to me in full and he is afraid I will take off with ALL the money and he won’t get his 50% cut! We are playing along and even told him he is my “estranged” uncle and how deeply we missed him and wondered what ever happened to his estate. These Nigerians are getting very creative aren’t they? Unfortunately, there must be victims out there, or these scams wouldn’t be running for all these years – it only takes a few to fall for it…
Good for a laugh…;)
I got one too. My question is, is anyone doing anything about these scammers? It’s fine for us google-aware folks, but my 80 year old mother doesn’t know how to turn on a computer…
Please also add Ricardo Gomez Garcia, offered me over $ Ten Million.
I did also receive a letter from Martin Malha Esq, from Spain, the personal attorney of somebody who passed away and has the same last name as myself… yada yada yada… same crap as everybody else.
Are these people retarded?… SCAM is written all over the letter.
Add this name to the list: MARTIN MALHA ESQ
we got the 2004 scam ..from BARRISTER FELIPE HERNADO ESCOBAR OR ESCOQR
september 14th 2012 my poor cousin and all the family past on in the
2004 tsumami..dont be fooled …$16.8m..us.
I got a letter from Barrister Pascual Ramperez of Pascual Ramperez Abogados in Madrid Spain. He wants to split $5,900,000 with me. My poor relative who lived in Spain for 19 years died along with his family during the Cyclone Nargis in May 2008 during their short holiday visit to Myanmar, Burma. He doesn’t seem to care if I am related to this guy or not…but feels strongly that he can get the funds released to me! Scam….I think so. For fun I emailed him….let’s see his/their next move!!
So he emailed me back and gave me a copy of his driver’s license and Call to Bar certificate….what do you think?
@Chris
Hey Chris, We got the same letter as you…………surprise, surprise!!
The only difference we were to split $9.5M with him.
This has scam written all over it. Give up my friend.
Please, don’t post here the Spanish Lawyers names, since the scammers use their identities but they have nothing to do with the scams… and you are making their names look dirt. I wonder why the scammers use real lawyers’ names if they could just fake an identity?
he is just supplanting the identity of that lawyer, the lawyer has nothing to do with this scam. Don’t write back or pay any money, since you are talking with a scammer, not a lawyer. @Jean-Guy
Actually, that is the REAL website of a REAL lawyer, but sadly, a scammer is using REAL Spanish lawyers names to look more real. Please, realize that this lawyer and the others have nothing to do with the scams. Someone is playing with their identities so that they would look more real. EVERYONE who receive these scams should go inmediately to police. @Sas
DESPATX JURIDIC LLUIS BARRULL MERCADER is also a name used in scam-mails. Good looking fake website though telephone/faxnumber don’t match and mailaddress is close but not on the spot correct… and seriously… 10,500,000.00 Euro just for me!!! :O If it sounds too good to be true you can bet your last penny it is! And although the english is good… I am sure, it is not how an attorney would express themselves. The sad thing is that some people must fall for this kind of nonsense since new scams seem to pop up continuously.
Just received in Canada a regular letter in the mail from Madrid, Spain. Rubio Oscar Hernandez, claiming to be a lawyer, informed me that a name- sake of mine has died in the 2004 tsunami, along with his immediate family. He offers to split an inheritance of 8.6 US – 100% risk free. Ha, ha, ha. I wish…As far as I’m concerned, this scam-er just wasted 1.89EURO on a lovely king Carlos stamp. I’m a stamp collector.
Today received a letter from Ricardo Gomez Garcia Ricardo G Garcia Law Firm & Associates offering to access US$10,800,000 which supposedly belonged to a deceased person who had the same initial and surname as me. Of course he would split it 50%. The words ‘utterly confidential or top secret’ alerted me. An internet search could not locate the company. SCAM!!!! How do we trace these people and prosecute them?
Someone by the name of Marie Jose Sanchez wrote my mother a letter that one of are family members who we dont even know, died with his family in a car crash and left us a will of 12,000,000 we did not belive it at 1st but then this lady sent her I.D card my e mail, a death certificate of the person that had died. which was also fake, then she told us that she wants to split the money with us and give 10 % to charity ITSS ALL A SCAMMM ! PLEASEEEE DONT BELIVE IT ITS ALL A SCAM TO TRICK PEOPLE !!! SHE ALSO HAS SOMEONE WHO’S LAST NAME IS GARCIE WHICH WORKS FOR HER !
hi , i have just received one from ROBERT HUBER ..spelt my name wrong but the idea is that i help him to claim a large sum of money, before it is confiscated..
Got a letter looking very official but obviously Too Good To Be True from Barrister Roma H. Bosch, Alicante, Spain with the same story for me to claim as an Heir of an amount of $10.8 Million U.S. disbursed on the ratio of 50/50. Has his Tel., Fax, Email and P.O. Box. LOL 😀
Please add Agustin Alabart of Victoria Attorneys to the list.They generously oferred a 50-50 split of my late next of kin’s estate worth $4.2 million. My poor relative,whom i dont even know appararently was killed by the 2004 Tsunami in Indonesia.As ussual all the contacts details, excluding the website are included. The document however looks too shabby for law firm big enough to be charged with such a big assignment of identifying and administering deceased people’s estates of foreigners.