Scammers target labor lawyers Beware of the old cashier's check ruse.

Labor and employment lawyers, beware.

Cyber criminals are posing as wrongly terminated employees to advance a highly orchestrated check-cashing scheme.

Dana Gallup, managing partner of Gallup Auerbach of Hollywood, was targeted July 28 with an online inquiry from a purported new client named "Matthew Kicinski."

The email writer claimed he needed help collecting a $169,945 severance from a South Florida power equipment company. The scammer claimed he was fired after he reported a female executive's unwanted sexual advances.

"... till date, the terms of the agreement hasn't been met," the writer claimed.

The scammer forwarded an undated "offer letter," the alleged severance agreement, and what he claimed were heated email exchanges with a company official.

The typos and poor grammar were suspicious enough. But when "Kicinski" claimed to be expecting a six-figure payout, Gallup knew he was being played.

"He said he was offered a $100,000-plus severance package on the spot, which nobody does, unless you are an executive," Gallup said. "I'm a labor and employment lawyer. Maybe the med-mal (medical malpractice,) and PI (personal injury) guys see this kind of money all the time, but not us."

Gallup knew from experience what would come next. A pretty good facsimile of a company check. Sometime between the time Gallup deposited it, and before it cleared, the client would ask Gallup to wire cash.

Gallup reported the incident to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center. After filling out a form, Gallup received an acknowledgment and a case number.

For Gallup, it was deja vu all over again.

A few weeks before the latest incident, Gallup's partner, Jacob Auerbach, was also targeted. The attempt was slightly more sophisticated, Gallup said.

The scammer asked Auerbach to help him collect a severance from a local corporation that Auerbach knew well. After the scammer signed a fee agreement, Auerbach received an email, purportedly from the company's human resource officer, promising to forward a check. Auerbach recognized the HR officer's name.

But when Auerbach noticed that the HR officer's email address was slightly different than the official version, he consulted Gallup.

"So Jacob writes to me, and he...