A number of our clients have received faxes, emails, and letters requesting money for bogus overseas IP services.

Many request payments of 1500 US dollars or more. If contacted by an overseas firm requesting payment, we suggest you:

• Perform a web search to check the authenticity of the request.
• If in doubt, contact Ensor and Associates. If possible, fax or email us a copy of the request.

The World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) newsletter for December 2012 mentioned these scams. WIPO also had an information page on such scams, but at the time of writing this information page is inaccessible.

An example request for money, presented by WIPO, may be found here (PDF format).