Der.com and Daniel Caggiano - Possible Scam
December 11, 2021
On November 23, 2021, our foremost Aimfair scam investigator sent us a wonderful description and account of a series of conversations he had with a group in California and Mexico. The story is as follows:So, our investigator took up the conversation. Here is what he sent me:
From: legalteam@lawofficeofdanielcaggiano.com
Sent: Monday, November 22, 2021 11:10 AM
To: aimfairmember
Subject: Sales Contract
Importance: High
Good Afternoon Aimfair member,
We have been retained by DER.COM to facilitate a resale of a membership for both Buyer and Seller. Attached you will find a contract pertaining to the negotiations held between Buyer and Seller. As a United States bar certified Law Firm we can assist with any International resale transfers.
Our paralegals are more than happy to assist with any questions you may have regarding the resale process. Please feel free to contact our Law Firm with any questions or provide us with your best contact number so that we may continue this transaction.
Respectfully,
So the conversation continues.
Hi Bob,
Hope that all is well with you and Mary Ann.
I wanted to tell you about this scam that I just uncovered and if I do say so myself, I am quite proud of myself on this one J This is also in your neck of the woods in California.
I received a call and offer from a Trevor Wilkerson out of Mexico City who claimed to work for DER.COM – a German internet travel company. As you can see from the attached reply from DER.COM – Wilkerson is not authorized to act on behalf of DER.COM.
I played along knowing that this was a scam, but what intrigued me is that Wilkerson kept saying he was legitimate because he hires U.S. based lawyers who are active and in good standing with their respective State Bar associations.
Long story short, I received a draft contract from the office of Daniel Caggiano out of San Francisco.
I quickly checked the State Bar of California’s website to check this lawyer out. He is an active lawyer, but his address is a P.O. Box in Buena Park, California near Orange County. However, his current practice address is in San Francisco according to his website. Weblinks below.
https://apps.calbar.ca.gov/attorney/Licensee/Detail/192369
https://lawofficeofdanielcaggiano.com/
I spoke to a paralegal in Caggiano’s office, an Albert Hamilton, who told me that Mr. Caggiano was previously a criminal lawyer and received death threats. So for security reasons, he doesn’t list his address at 100 Montgomery Street in San Francisco on the California Bar website. I told the paralegal that this made no sense to me since Caggiano has a website that can be easily found by anyone trying to track him down. The paralegal didn’t have an answer to my question.
I then called the California State Bar who informed me that Mr Caggiano is an active lawyer with no past compliance issues. I asked why Caggiano’s address on the California Bar website is different than his business website. The Bar representative informed me that such is allowed in California – even though his address on the Bar website is a PO Box and no phone number. This is surprising to me as here in Ontario, an active lawyer must give a physical address and phone number on the Law Society of Ontario website.
Although it took me the better part of yesterday afternoon, I was able to obtain the phone number for the security office at 100 Montgomery Street, San Francisco. A very nice gentleman told me that he has worked in the building for ten years, and is not aware of any tenant or lawyer named Daniel Caggiano.
Below is the exchange with Caggiano – as you can see and as typical, they now do not want to deal with me.
I have also lodged a complaint with the State Bar of California (attached).
Talk to you soon.
Regards,
Aimfair Member
Here is what I sent to Daniel, the lawyer and Albert, the paralegal:Then, the Aimfair Member asked for clarification and legitimacy. Not much came from that request:
From: Aimfair Member
Sent: Monday, November 22, 2021 6:35 PM
To: legalteam@lawofficeofdanielcaggiano.com; daniel@lawofficeofdanielcaggiano.com
Subject: RE: Sales Contract
Hi Daniel, Albert
What is the suite number of your office at 100 Montgomery Street in San Francisco?
I called the Vanbarton security office (building’s owner) who informed me that the law firm of Daniel Caggiano is not a tenant at 100 Montgomery Street.
Can you please explain this.
Regards,
Aimfair Member
From: Aimfair MemberThe lawyer sent the following email in response to Aimfair Member's request for legtitmacy:
Sent: martes, 23 de noviembre de 2021 02:32 p. m.
To: legalteam@lawofficeofdanielcaggiano.com; daniel@lawofficeofdanielcaggiano.com; travel.bureau@dermx.com.mx
Subject: RE: Sales Contract
Theodore, Daniel, Albert
There a few discrepancies that I would like answers to before I spend any more time on this potential transaction:
- I have not heard back from anyone with respect to my email of yesterday (below) as to the Suite Number for Daneil Caggiano’s office at 100 Montgomery Street, San Francisco.
- I called the security office that manages the building at 100 Montgomery Street (415-967-5807). The security office personnel stated that there is not a tenant in the building named “Daniel Caggiano”. The security individual said he has been working at the building for ten years, and is familiar with all of the tenants in the building.
- I contacted the parent company of DER.COM, DER Touristik, to confirm that Theodore Wilkerson’s office in Mexico City is authorized to act on behalf of DER.COM. The reply from the Corporate Responsibility Department is below and self-explanatory (attached is the entire email exchange).
Dear Aimfair Member,Until I receive satisfactory replies to these discrepancies via email, I will not be spending any more time on this potential transaction. If I do not hear back from you people by the end of business day tomorrow, I will presume that this attempt by you guys was an entire scam. I will also report Daniel Caggiano to the State Bar of California.
You have contacted DER Touristik Group through the mailbox of the Corporate Responsibility department.
I am unable to confirm that the correspondence you have received is linked to our company.
We will further investigate this internally.
Kind regards,
Christian Byczek
Christian Byczek
Manager Corporate Responsibility
DER Touristik Group GmbH
Emil-von-Behring-Straße 6
60424 Frankfurt
Please do not attempt to call me as I will not answer. I want replies in writing via email.
If you guys are legitimate businessmen, lawyers, and paralegals - which I quite frankly doubt at this stage – you should not have any reason to not reply via email.
Regards,
Aimfair Member
From: daniel@lawofficeofdanielcaggiano.comSo there you have it. A wonderful exchange that an Aimfair Member had with individuals who claimed to have a buyer for the Aimfair Member's contract. Clearly, the Aimfair Member was able to flush out the true agenda by asking for evidence of legitimacy that remained unanswered and the lawyer discontinued the conversation.
Sent: Tuesday, November 23, 2021 3:41 PM
To: Aimfair Member; legalteam@lawofficeofdanielcaggiano.com; travel.bureau@dermx.com.mx
Subject: RE: Sales Contract
Hi Aimfair Member,
Thank you for reaching out , at this point we do not wish to entertain your business, we appreciate your feedback and wish you the best of luck on all your future ventures.
Cordially,
Lawyer
The issue is payment. If we all stop making payments to supposedly legitimate representatives of buyers, they will stop asking us to take their calls and get the idea that we will not fall for their scam.
By the way, one final note: LawOfficeOfDanielCaggiano.com is a new domain:
Dates 114 days old
Created on 2021-08-19
Expires on 2022-08-19
Updated on 2021-10-18