Faking It

-Just like in Suits, but badder, meaner and he wants your lunch money.-

Just yesterday we received a call for help from an acquaintance. Apparently she received an SMS saying that an arrest warrant will be issued against her at 4.00 pm on the same day for some debt she don't remember ever having. The SMS is reproduced as follows:

"DEFENDAN: JILL DAUGHTER OF JACK Satu Petisyen Sipiutang akan ditampalkan di Papan Notis Mahkamah Sivil Jln Duta KL dan akan diiklankan di semua surat khabar utama berbahasa Melayu selama untuk 5 hari. Anda akan dikehendaki hadir di mahkamah tersebut dan sekiranya kamu tidak hadir waran tangkap akan dikeluarkan terhadap kamu. Penyerahan waran dan tindakan WSS untuk sitaan dan lelongan hartabenda untuk sitaan dan lelongan hartabenda bagi penerima Penghakiman Ingkar. Harap maklum. En Danial 60358805421/ 60392850099 UNIT A4-Perendosan Waran/Saman"

Fortunately for her, in a moment of clarity she remembers that somewhere in her friend list is an advocate & solicitor and she referred the matter to us (That's right folk, when in doubt, always consult a lawyer).  We then suggested to her to go back to her financial records for any unsettled debt and to ask that certain Mr Danial the following:

i)  Who is the Plaintiff

ii)  The case number

iii) Which court will the matter be heard in

iv) How can she settle the matter out of court if she can.

That certain Mr Danial then evades the first three questions by citing that he will have to find the file first since it was an old file but eagerly answered the last question stressing the need for urgency if one is to avoid an arrest warrant from being made against her. The explanation ends with the below SMS:

" Pembayaran Di Mesin CDM Maybank Tekan Butang ENTER. Pilih BAHASA. Pilih BAYARAN TUNAI. Pilih BAYARAN PINJAMAN KREDIT. Pilih *****S  ******H Masukkan Kod Bayaran 006 Tekan YA Masukkan No Akaun 894000644791 Tekan YA. Masukan No TALIPON 017XXXXXXX Anda. Sahkan Bayaran Anda Masukkan Wang RM XXXX.XX dan Ambil Resit. Photostat dan Fax resit ke 0392810450 (U/P Danial)"

However, upon vigorous digging, she discovered that she had some long withstanding debt with a household appliance and furniture provider whom we shall not name (but keep the colour yellow in mind). The best part is, the furniture that was bought was not even for her family. They were bought under her name for a relative whom she had great trust for (back then) who then conveniently forgot some of the installments leaving this said acquaintance running around panicking like a headless chicken over an impending arrest warrant. (The issue of being social guarantor, letting people or company buy things in your name will be better covered in another post)

Thinking in good faith that perhaps a lawyer should step in, we then made the phone call to that certain Mr Danial. That certain Mr Danial claims to be from UNIT A4-Perendosan Waran/Saman of a legal firm called Anand & Co. When asked about the details of the case, another runaround answer is given. Repeated attempt to call again regarding the case details failed or were cut off in mid conversation. Big Question mark when the firm name was Google-ed, it was not in the Malaysian Bar list of legal firms. When asked about this that certain Mr Danial's response was to hang up the phone.

Okay.

Still acting in good faith, thinking that perhaps the telephone connection there is not that good, the second number given in the first SMS was called and a lady who refused to give her name answered. When asked she gives the firm name as Anand Ehsan & Co and our request for critical info (case number, her firm address etc) was stonewalled by her mantra : "We cannot divulge information to 3rd party". Even our request for her firm's office address in order for us to write in to her firm informing of our representation of our female acquaintance was denied. In return she informed us that the case detail can be obtained from the front desk of KL court by way of giving the NRIC No of our acquaintance which is a load of bullshit since the KL court front desk does not even have a computer to conduct a search from! The boiling point was when apart from her mantra she also said that "You are lawyers, you should know that".

From that point on we lost our cool, and our good faith.

For the uninitiated, yes, sensitive information such as NRIC No, residence address etc cannot be divulged to any 3rd parties but informations like case number, the name of the Plaintiff, the firm name and address of the Plaintiff's solicitor is and should be supplied to the Defendant as a matter of right. Without knowing these important details the Defendants cannot mount a proper case against a Plaintiff's claim.

After almost 15 minutes of listening to bullshit consisting of mantras like "We cannot give you that info", countless I am sorry-s and an appeal to Muslim good brother/sisterhood (what??), we reach the conclusion that Anand Ehsan & Co or whatever they call themselves are not what they claimed to be (praise be to Google!). We informed the unknown lady that a police report will be lodged against this entity known as Anand Ehsan & Co and the unknown lady on the line and that certain Mr Danial for impersonating a lawyer/ law firm to which the unknown lady replied that she also will lodge a police report under some vague pretext upon which we simply said our goodbye and hung up.

Upon clarification with KL Court's front desk not long after, we were told that cases like this happens frequently, around 20 people per week would come to the KL Court front desk asking which court do they have to go to in order to stop an arrest warrant from being made against them. When shown the two SMS-es, KL Court front desk team confirms that it is the modus operandi of the same group. We lodged a police report not long after that.

Apart from refusal to give critical information that should be made available to a Defendant, very odd way of communicating with Defendant (any legal notice will NEVER be communicated via SMS), references to a non-existent provision in BAFIA (Banking and Financial Institution Act) and just plain old nastiness, you can be assured 100% that scenarios such as this is the work of either a well-informed (but fortunately ignorant in the usual court procedures) out to swindle money from the hopelessly gullible or the work of unethical debt collection agency.

I guess while they enjoyed at playing lawyer they didn't expect a real lawyer to come calling back at them.

Either way, posing as a lawyer is a crime under Section 205 Penal Code which is as follows:

"False personation for the purpose of any act or proceeding in a suit

205. Whoever falsely personates another, and in such assumed character makes any admission or statement, or confesses judgment, or causes any process to be issued, or becomes bail or security,

or does any other act in any suit or criminal prosecution, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years or with fine or with both."

So folks, whenever anybody proclaims himself to be a lawyer, always do a quick Google of his or her full name or name of firm. If he or she or the firm name is not listed in the Malaysian Bar website then you have not a qualified lawyer but a full blown liar at hand.