A Mediation Scam!

Typically, I post blogs about a ?recent mediation or about mediation theory or practice. But today I am posting about a scam. We have all heard about various scams in which the scoundrels attempt to have someone give valuable information over the telephone or perhaps hire an attorney and convince him/her to issue a refund from the trust account before the scoundrel’s check has cleared so that in essence, the attorney is paying his/her own money to the scoundrel.

This scam caught me by surprise and so want to pass it along as a lesson learned and a catastrophe avoided.

About two weeks ago, I received an e-mail from David Sargis who wanted to use my services as a mediator. As parties often contact me by e-mail, I did not think it unusual.? ?His address was Idaho Falls, Idaho. Again, in this age of mediation by video conference, I did not think anything unusual about the address. He told me the other party was a Lee Anderson although he did not copy him on the email.? He just asked me for a retainer agreement. He did not ask me my rates either, which I thought was strange.

I ?responded by advising him that typically a mediation date is selected before? I send out the mediation/ confidentiality agreement. ?Four hours later, he emailed back stating that an all-day mediation on November 8 would be fine. Again, he neither asked me my rate nor copied the other party. He just asked for my retainer agreement, again!

His introductory e-mail provided the following details:

Owner:? Lee Anderson of 3943 Hayvenhurst Dr, Encino, CA 91436

Builder: David Sargisof 223 Basalt St. Idaho Falls, ID 83403

Description: 5,000 Sq Ft of 5 Bedrooms and 5 Baths.

Project Amount: $1m. Paid $540,000 Balanced $460,000 (Debt)

Project duration: 6 months

Status:? Completed

Please review the details, check for conflict, and send in your retainer agreement.

Thank you,

Mr. David Sargis

At this point, I was finding this quite strange and had an uneasy feeling. No one hires someone for the whole day without asking how much it will cost nor do they ever copy the other party.

My assistant also found this strange and so did some research via Google. She was able to find Mr. Sargis’s place of business and so-called. She quickly learned that he was retired from his company in Idaho, his e-mail had been hacked, and quite a few other mediators had called the company looking for him regarding a dispute involving the property.

My assistant wrote “Mr. Sargis” asking for telephone numbers stating she needed to speak with both parties to acquire additional information.? “Mr. Sargis” provided two telephone numbers: both were not good numbers. The message response to the supposed phone number for “Mr. Sargis”? stated the party was not available and the supposed phone number for “Mr. Anderson” with a 757-area code ?(Hampton Roads area in Virginia) is not registered to anyone; that is, it is a non-working number. Notably, ?“Lee Anderson’s” address is in Encino! ?While many folks keep their original mobile phone numbers as they move across the country, this mobile number did not even exist.

Upon review of the details of this supposed dispute, it struck me that $460,000 was in dispute. Shouldn’t attorneys be involved? That is, how often would a general or sub-contractor be representing himself in a dispute involving close to a half million dollars?

Once “David Sargis” gave us the telephone numbers, he knew the scam was up as he has not e-mailed me again. ( And, I? never sent him a retainer agreement.)

I am not sure what the scam entailed. Was he going to send me a deposit and then before the check clears, ?tell me that the matter settled and ask for a refund such that I end up paying him money out of my own pocket because his check would bounce or if he used a credit card, he would dispute the payment?

Or, since he was so interested in getting a retainer agreement from me,? was his supposed executed agreement sent back to me as an attachment going to contain malware or something as sinister so that when I opened it, it would severely compromise my computer? I do not know.

I simply write this as a warning. In my almost 20? years as a full-time mediator, I have never encountered a scam as a mediator!

So, in this day and age- beware- scams can and will come in all shapes and sizes!

… Just something to think about.