Cheng Wiliam Chi Wishes to Retain an Attorney Scam

Here is an email I received from cnooc@zaixiu.info that I think is some form of phishing attack.

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Good Day,

I wish to retain an attorney that will assist my company in collecting funds that are owed to the company. My company has been in business for over 5 years and we have not experienced any failure in business relationship like the one which we come to you with. We happen to sell a product, shipped and accounted for by our company and the purchaser, and the products were supposed to be paid for by now. It has been over 5 months and we have not received payment or notification of re-adjustment in estimated time of payment. We urge for our products to be paid for as soon as possible. We feel that the assistance of an attorney will show and prove that we are very serious about the matter and hope it will lead to a resolution and funds collected appropriately. We have all the documents supporting the case and we are ready to present it if we happen to go before the court of law to settle this matter. Please advice on your fees and retainer agreement and any other information that you would be needing to assess the case. Again, I wish to emphasize the urgency of the case and urge you to take an earnest attitude towards the case and I hope we maintain a stable business relationship.

Thank you and I await your prompt response.

Cheng Wiliam Chi

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My response was:

This will confirm that I have received your inquiry and am considering a response. Please provide me the name, physical address of your company, and the website; and do the same for the debtor. Please also indicate how you found out about me.

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Their response was:

Thank you for your earnest response, i apologize on this late reply. Let me start by introducing the company i represent. CNOOC is registered with a capital of RMB 94.9 billion and has 51,000 employees. It Operates, manages and overseas the delegated state-owned assets and bears corresponding value increment responsibilities. CNOOC has realized fast and quality growth over the past twenty five years. The year 2007 saw it achieving a sales income of RMB 160.0 billion and a net profit of RMB 56.5 billion, meanwhile paying a tax of RMB 35.0 billion to the state amounting to more than 60% of the total profit. The total and net assets of CNOOC have reached RMB 300.0 billion and RMB 170.0 billion respectively. After relieving itself from the heavy production loss incurred by the violent typhoons while at the same time ensuring safety in all operations, CNOOC produced a total of 40.46 million tons of oil and gas in 2007. It has been one of the top key state-owned enterprises (SOES) in China in terms of operating results over the past three consecutive years.

We request your representation to counsel us in litigation and enable us collect a debt owed to us by a delinquent customer.

We do appreciate your time in reviewing our request and we will do everything possible to insure a smooth and hitch free business relationship. We are ready to work with you to achieve our goal as the importance of your services cannot be over emphasized.

We understand the importance of retaining your services accordingly and we will provide all necessary documentation and information in that regard. We understand your request for more information and we will not relent in providing information as they deem necessary.

We are of the opinion that once our presence is established in your state via a legal representative our customer will have no option but comply with payment request and accompanied with legal action and litigation will push for the accounts to be paid attention to effectively.

We got your contact information from the online lawyers Directory as a result of our search for reliable firm or individual to provide legal services as requested.

We believe that a normal scenario will require a phone call or demand letter from you to our delinquent seller if your services is retained. Although we believed that litigation should be applied as a last resort as we intend to preserve the relationship we have with our customer, since payment is not made, we think otherwise. Though, we do hope not to resort to litigation unless all other options are exhausted but we will like the comfort of knowing that the option is available and letting our customer know that litigation may be enforced if the option becomes necessary.

We understand the concept of running a conflict check that is why we are providing our delinquent customer located in your state for your conflict check and to enable you present to us your retainer agreement for your services.

Paul Bennett
Machine Embroidery
26373 Dartmouth St, Madison Heights, MI 48071-3530
This particular customer owes approx. $900,000.00 and the payment is overdue as our regular purchase agreement requires customer to effect payment not later than 30 days upon delivery or legal action may be enforced if payment delay exceeds 90 days. delivery for this customer was made in April of 2009 and our calculation shows that delivery is about Five Months late.

It will be very helpful if we receive your standard retainer agreement before noon on Friday your time. This will enable our board decide on the conditions of the retainer in our next board meeting.

We thank you for your business as we look forward to your prompt response.

Very Respectfully,

Mr Cheng Chi.
China National Offshore Oil Corporation.
www.cnooc.com.cn

Note: I am presently in the United Kingdom (>>>Read UK SCAM!)for now and you can call me on my mobile at +44-702-401-8580. I will be expecting your call.

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As I hear more, I’ll post to the site. Meanwhile, those of you with a law degree, be warned about this email scam.

Thank you,

Renee