So have you ever given your checking account info to a Nigerian prince, only to kick yourself the next day when you woke up to find out $1 million wasn’t deposited into your account after all, and instead you were bled dry? Well, don’t kick yourself too hard – these sorts of scams can get even those who should know better, like lawyers.
Texas Lawyer reported Monday that Houston lawyer Richard Howell, of Buckley, White, Castaneda & Howell, fell victim to a similar scam that robbed his firm of $182,500.
Howell tells Hair Balls he thought he had been doing business with a Japanese company that wanted his firm to collect debt from some American clients. One of these clients supposedly deposited a Citibank check into Howell’s firm’s client account at Sterling Bank.
Howell says an employee at his firm called Citibank’s
automated check confirmation phone line, which confirmed that the check
had cleared. But such was not the case – the check had ultimately been
spotted as a counterfeit and returned – but not before Howell’s firm
authorized the release of a payment to a supplied of the Japanese
company.
Howell’s firm is now suing Citibank for negligence and
misrepresentation – allegations that Citibank denies. Citing the
pending litigation, a Citibank spokeswoman told Hair Balls the bank had
no comment.
The thing is, Howell says the employee who called the Citibank
confirmation line has the whole thing on tape. He tells Hair Balls
that, at one point, Citibank’s lawyers said the information on the
check confirmation line is not “final validation,” which makes Hair
Balls wonder what the line is actually for in the first place, then.
Shits and giggles, perhaps?
In Citibank’s defense, the bank can’t just
buckle and pay Howell’s firm $182,500, because the bank, on the heels
of getting a $45 billion government bailout, is busy buying a $50
million corporate jet.
(The plane seats only 12 people, so Hair Balls isn’t sure how the
millions of taxpayers who paid for it are all going to fit).
The moral of the story is: if something seems too good to be true,
it’s either a scam or a government bailout. And also: never believe
anything on Citibank’s official check confirmation line!
— Craig Malisow
This article appears in Jan 22-28, 2009.
