Many people contact me through this blog. They’ll want to talk about an old blog post, or they’ll try to confirm if they went to grade school with me in the past (yeah, Eddie Scanlon, you treated me like dirt in second grade and you’re still dead to me).
I also receive contacts from scammers. Scammers and phishers and griefers who claim that I somehow did something wrong on this blog, and that if I click a link that they provide, I’ll see what that “wrong” was.
Such was the case a couple of weeks ago, when someone named Vikram contacted me with the old “You plagiarized my copyrighted material and I’m going to sue your hairy ass off” emails. I screen-shot it for you.
Okay, class, let’s review. There is a link to something called Feher Law Firm, but the link itself looks skeevy. Like it’s not really a link, but a redirect link. Let’s also look at the sentence structure and the syntax. “You’re infringing on copyrighted images owned by company.” Grammar’s not this guy’s strong suit. Hooked on Phonics doesn’t work for him.
So whoever this “Vikram” is, apparently he’s a legal officer at the Feher Law Firm.
Okay. So is he a partner in the law firm? Is he an associate? Is he “of counsel”?
Only one way to find out.
Let’s see if there actually IS a Feher Law Firm.
And … sure enough … there IS a Feher Law Firm. It’s a California-based law firm with nine offices located throughout the state.
So let’s see what type of legal services Feher Law Firm provides.
Apparently their practice areas involve personal injury (car accident, slip and fall) and employment law (workplace termination, wrongful termination, sexual harassment). Nothing listed regarding copyright infringement or the like.
Well, maybe it’s a new practice. Certainly our budding “legal officer” Vikram HAS to be listed among the attorneys on the website. And sure enough … there’s nine people on the Feher Law Firm’s “Our Team” website. None of them are named Vikram.
Yeah. If Vikram works at Feher Law, then I’m a senior partner at McKenzie, Brackman, Chaney, Kuzak, and Becker.
But what if Vikram works at the law firm and they haven’t updated their “our team” website page?
Guess what. There’s a website called Martindale.com, it contains one of the largest databases of attorneys and their firms. I tested the website out by punching in some names of local attorneys – their names, practices and curricula vitae all popped up on that website.
Vikram? Not so much. He’s not at Feder Law Firm, and as far as Martindale is conerned, he’s not at ANY law firm.
But let’s just confirm everything. Apparently the Feher Law Firm has a toll-free 24/7 telephone contact number.
Hey, it’s a toll-free number. Let’s give it a shout.
And sure enough, I reached a receptionist. And after speaking with the receptionist, she confirmed that the Feher Law Firm was the victim of a phishing attack. She begged me to not click on the suspicious link, to delete the email, and apologized for any inconvenience I might have suffered from this spurious email.
I informed her that she had no reason to apologize at all; that this was obviously not Feher Law Firm’s fault. Heck, I’ve got a category on this blog that’s devoted to scammers and swindlers. And I’ve seen this “you stole my copyrighted material” stunt before. Heck, I even blogged about it. Because, yeah, of course I did.
So I re-contacted Feher Law Firm, and provided them with a screenshot of Vikram’s email. Along with the IP address that Vikram’s email provided. Now, unless Vikram used a spoofing program to scramble up his IP address, I’m betting that the data security company Feher Law Firm uses for its client information protection will be very interested in this material.
Very interested.
So, Vikram, wherever you are … you either need to be a very good lawyer …
Or you need to HIRE a very good lawyer.
Just sayin’ is all … 😀
Chuck The Writer 
I wouldn’t trust anyone that uses “donotreply” as a e-mail address.
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What with the fast pace of modern-day technology, most (gullible) folks simply don’t have the time or patience to take your common sense approach, Chuck.
As my dear old Dad used to say: “Some people don’t have the brains that God gave to geese.”
And I suspect that another link to avoid in pesky emails might be that supposedly promising, to-end-them-once-and-for-all… “click here to unsubscribe.”
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The biggest advantage we have over scammers is that they are morons. I mean, you know you’ve won that iPhone when it comes from a company that can’t spell its own name right and has an e-mail address that parses as “restorehairloss” in Romania, right?
Personally I always use the law firm recommended by Johnny Carson; Dewey, Cheatem, and Howe.
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