What’s the best way I can prove if someone is impersonating an attorney by sending fake letters?
I believe my ex is harassing me by sending letters with an attorney’s contact information down the street from me. There is no letterhead on any of the letters and the envelope I receive the letters in are typed and cheap enough as if from a typewriter. The paper is cheap and of low quality, as is the various different fonts used throughout the letters. The signature looks exactly like my ex’s handwriting also. The letters don ‘t look professional at all, and wouldn’t there be letterhead or a company insignia somewhere? My attorney has it on his. Typing an attorney’s name in bold and centering it at the top doesn’t count for letterhead.
What’s a sly way I can find out if he is impersonating an attorney? A friend said I could just call and ask the secretary if they always use letterhead when they send out letters. I would like to get a letter from their firm though somehow that has letterhead on it.
It IS a real attorney. The ex lives an hour away in another state, but this attorney he chose is right down the street from me. There’s no need to call the bar association when the attorney is in the yellow prescription drugs online without a prescription pages and has a website. I think my ex just chose his name and information and faked the letters with that attorney’s information on it to make it look real.
It’s best to give the letter(s) to your attorney and have him/her contact the "attorney-in-question", he/she would know the best way to handle this, besides isn’t that what you paying him/her for?
I believe that would be fraud. You should call your local Bar Association, or look up the attorney’s information and call directly.
Better yet, just hand the matter over to your attorney.
Actually, I know a few attorneys, especially in small towns or older solo practitioners, that still use typewriters and no letterhead.
The simplest way is to ask the attorney. You say the address is down the street from you. Contact the attorney and ask if he sent the letter. Forget the letterhead issue. Just ask if they sent the letter.
If not, then both you and that attorney can join in a complaint to the state bar against the impersonator.
Call the state bar association and see what the attorney’s bar number is and what his/her address is. I bet the attorney, if real would love to know that his/her name is being used illegally.
Once you have contacted to the bar, contact the authorities and let them know what is going on.
Good Luck and Take Care
If the name on the letter is really an attorney, take it to his office and ask if he sent it. If the name is not even an attorney, contact the district attorney’s office. If your ex is sending these letters, you won’t be hearing from him for about 10 years.
I once bought a home from what turned out to be psycopath. 9 months after the sale closed, I heard a bunch of noise in my yard and looked out to see 6 big guys with 2 trucks and they were loading stuff out of my garage!
I called the cops (thank gawd they were fast for a change) and then called my neighbor for backup. The men said that the owner (former owner) still had rights to items on the property. I said like hell. Our contract did allow her 30 days to remove some items she left (she was a pig and it took us 2 weeks to clear her crap out before we could move in), but she failed to utilize that clause of our contract.
Two days later I received a letter ON a lawyer’s letterhead, and using that lawyer’s postage meter to mail. The letter demanded that I immediately turn over an attached list of property, or I was going to be sued for theft and fraud. As the language used was very communicative and not legal, I doubted the validity. So I called the lawyer’s office and set up an appointment to meet with him for a consultation on a bogus issue and I used a bogus name.
Upon entering his office, and shutting his door for privacy, I handed him the letter and asked him if he realized someone in his staff was impersonating him and stealing his office supplies. He thanked me for letting him know.
Turns out the former owner had been working for this attorney for a couple weeks. She got fired and I got a restraining order.
Call his bluff and call the attorney. The worst that will happen is the attorney will verify he is working for your ex and the conversation should end there.
Good luck
Check with your state bar to see if the person is in fact a licensed attorney. If the person is listed than you should write him a letter asking in exactly what capacity he has been retained.