In recent times there has been an increase in the incidence of fraud and internet scams.  This is a reasonably new area of law that unfortunately tends to be treated as civil rather than a criminal matter by law enforcement.  The civil and commercial litigation lawyers at Brander Smith McKnight have expertise in these areas and have recovered large amounts of money for effected victims.

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Examples of Fraud and Internet Scams

1. The victim has purchased a product over the internet and finds that the vendor is fake and the product doesn’t arrive.
2. The vendor is legitimate but a fraudulent invoice is issued due to the illegal interception of the invoice and the resending of the invoice with the bank account details of the perpetrator of the fraud.
3. The perpetrator directly accesses the victim’s bank account or credit card and fraudulently withdraws their funds.

In these cases, the victim (known as the plaintiff) will have a very strong legal case.  However, the problem arises when trying to identify or locate the perpetrator (known as the defendant).  By the very nature of the crime, the perpetrator will make every effort to conceal their identity and location.

Legal Procedures to Combat Fraudulent Activity and Recover your Funds or Assets

The civil and commercial litigation lawyers at Brander Smith McKnight are proud of being able to recover client’s funds and assets despite the difficult circumstances posed by the nature of internet fraud.

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Call us to arrange a free 20 minute no obligation consultation that includes case evaluation and cost estimate.

Subpoena Bank Accounts

In ordinary circumstances, a bank will not provide details of its clients due to its obligations to protect its clients private information.  However a subpoena compels the bank to provide the information and this prevails over any of the banks privacy obligations.  These mechanisms are set out in the Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005, part 33 (NSW). This forms part of the preliminary discovery to identify the owners of the bank accounts.  The BSM lawyers will act quickly to subpoena the details of perpetrator’s bank accounts.

Freezing Order

The lawyers approach the courts to make an urgent application for a freezing order over the relevant bank accounts.  This is in the form of a notice of motion with a supporting affidavit.  The rules relating to the freezing order are contained in the Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 part 25, division 2(NSW).

A freezing order, also known as a Mareva injunction asset preservation order (after an English legal case) is normally obtained without notice to the perpetrator and prior to serving any legal documents on them.  This enables the process to be completed quickly and without alerting the perpetrator who would otherwise attempt to remove the funds from the bank account.

The purpose of a freezing order is to make sure that the funds are preserved so that a judgement or prospective judgement can be satisfied.  A freezing order can be granted by both the District and the Supreme Courts of NSW.

Once the funds are frozen the lawyers at Brander Smith McKnight take the necessary legal proceedings to obtain and enforce the judgement to recover any funds in the frozen bank accounts.

Search Order

A search order is an order granted by the court allowing the victim’s lawyers to preserve evidence needed to prove the victim’s claim where there is a danger of:

• destruction of evidence
• concealment of evidence
• removal of evidence from the jurisdiction

A search order is also known as an Anton Pillar order of court (after an English legal case).  The court order permits the victim’s lawyers, in the presence of an independent supervising lawyer, to:

• enter the perpetrator’s premises
• search the premises
• copy relevant documents
• remove property from the perpetrator’s premises

The search order is normally obtained without notice to the perpetrator to avoid the risk that the perpetrator may destroy, conceal or remove evidence.  The rules relating to search orders are contained in the Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005, part 25, division 3 (NSW).

02 8539 7475

Call us to arrange a free 20 minute no obligation consultation that includes case evaluation and cost estimate.