Legal Question in Criminal Law in Virginia

extortion?

Mother needed assistance for matters overseas. She spoke w/ a recommendaed source (who happened to be a patent lawyer) for advice; the source is overseas. The source gave advice and even helped out with aqcuiring some documents. My mother thought the source was helping out of good will. there was no contractual or verbal agreement to ''compensation''. Recently, the source has sent my mother a list of services that were said to have been performed with a requirment to pay to the sum of $45,000.00 US by a certain date. Is this extortion if there was no contigent contractual agreement? How should my mother proceed and what should she be weiry of?


Asked on 4/05/07, 12:39 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Michael Hendrickson Law Office Michael E. Hendrickson

Re: extortion?

This has some of the trappings of the so-called Nigerian 419 scams, except for the patent lawyer part, but even that aspect could be a new wrinkle in this quite old scam which is now found throughout the Internet and your mother would be very foolish to remit any payments.

She could, nevertheless, respond to this "invoice" for services which, apparently, were never part of any agreement and which she believed were being offered gratuitously, with a brief note of thanks but with a polite but firm rejection of the solicitation for payment.

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Answered on 4/05/07, 3:56 pm


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