Letter from attorney?

[MissMizz]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?
Pennsylvania

I received a letter in the mail today from an attorney's office two-three hours away from my home. It's addressed directly to me by name and after some research, appears to be from a legitimate attorney in the area. The header of the letter is "Re: THEFT BY DECEPTION"

The letter itself, looks more like an advertisement than an actual letter, where it goes into the attorney's track record and how to contact him for a consultation to protect my rights. It does state that "If you are not the person who was involved in this matter, please disregard this letter"

I would have just thrown it away, except I had been threatened with a lawsuit a few weeks ago based on something that a business owner was spreading. My husband and I went to an event where a couple had given us their tickets. We got into the event because they gave us their passes. The business owner is claiming this was theft by deception (because he didn't get OUR money, only the couple who purchased the tickets originally as the tickets were apparently non transferable. We had not known this at the time). Regardless, I have not got served with any papers or charged with any crime and I'm not exactly sure it can be claimed as theft by deception since we didn't know the tickets were non transferable. I'm just a little confused what to do with this letter. On one hand, it seems fake and more like an advertisement because I've never known an attorney to reach out to someone like this, especially when there has not been a conviction of any kind. On the other hand, I'm also not sure how he would get my address since I live so far away and why there would be a description at the top about theft.

I've never committed any kind of crime in my life, so I have no idea how these things work or if I should be worried.

 

[LdiJ]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?
Pennsylvania

I received a letter in the mail today from an attorney's office two-three hours away from my home. It's addressed directly to me by name and after some research, appears to be from a legitimate attorney in the area. The header of the letter is "Re: THEFT BY DECEPTION"

The letter itself, looks more like an advertisement than an actual letter, where it goes into the attorney's track record and how to contact him for a consultation to protect my rights. It does state that "If you are not the person who was involved in this matter, please disregard this letter"

I would have just thrown it away, except I had been threatened with a lawsuit a few weeks ago based on something that a business owner was spreading. My husband and I went to an event where a couple had given us their tickets. We got into the event because they gave us their passes. The business owner is claiming this was theft by deception (because he didn't get OUR money, only the couple who purchased the tickets originally as the tickets were apparently non transferable. We had not known this at the time). Regardless, I have not got served with any papers or charged with any crime and I'm not exactly sure it can be claimed as theft by deception since we didn't know the tickets were non transferable. I'm just a little confused what to do with this letter. On one hand, it seems fake and more like an advertisement because I've never known an attorney to reach out to someone like this, especially when there has not been a conviction of any kind. On the other hand, I'm also not sure how he would get my address since I live so far away and why there would be a description at the top about theft.

I've never committed any kind of crime in my life, so I have no idea how these things work or if I should be worried.

It could be that the business owner has filed something in his county or even filed a police report in his county and the attorney is an ambulance chaser type. I would check with the courthouse in the county where the attorney is located to see if anything has been filed against you.

However, its a bit tacky for the business owner to not allow tickets to be transferred and to threaten a case of "theft by deception" if they are. He expects to be paid twice for the same tickets?

 

[tranquility]

It could be that the business owner has filed something in his county or even filed a police report in his county and the attorney is an ambulance chaser type. I would check with the courthouse in the county where the attorney is located to see if anything has been filed against you.

However, its a bit tacky for the business owner to not allow tickets to be transferred and to threaten a case of "theft by deception" if they are. He expects to be paid twice for the same tickets?

A popular way to advertise some services out here is to give or sell tickets to a lecture or presentation and also serve a meal and give other things of value to the participants. It is popular with fixed asset annuities, retirement planning services and the like and are targeted for people retired or near retirement. The tickets are not given to those not at or near retirement to keep the costs of the "seminar" or whatever, down. It is also used for high net worth individuals for some targeted investments.

If an appropriately targeted couple got tickets that were listed as non-transferable and they gave them away to the OP, it is not inconceivable there is some loss to the promoter for their use. If the OP were to sign in as the targeted couple or otherwise gave an indication they were that couple (Maybe just by using the non-transferable ticket if well labeled as such.), I could see some level of argument they stole by deception. I can't see any DA that would file on such a thing. I also really can't see any business that would claim it in court--but you never know how close someone is cutting expenses.

Is that what happened MissMizz? Were the tickets designed to target some demographic for some reason (Best guess) and you don't fit the demographic?

 

[MissMizz]

A popular way to advertise some services out here is to give or sell tickets to a lecture or presentation and also serve a meal and give other things of value to the participants. It is popular with fixed asset annuities, retirement planning services and the like and are targeted for people retired or near retirement. The tickets are not given to those not at or near retirement to keep the costs of the "seminar" or whatever, down. It is also used for high net worth individuals for some targeted investments.

If an appropriately targeted couple got tickets that were listed as non-transferable and they gave them away to the OP, it is not inconceivable there is some loss to the promoter for their use. If the OP were to sign in as the targeted couple or otherwise gave an indication they were that couple (Maybe just by using the non-transferable ticket if well labeled as such.), I could see some level of argument they stole by deception. I can't see any DA that would file on such a thing. I also really can't see any business that would claim it in court--but you never know how close someone is cutting expenses.

Is that what happened MissMizz? Were the tickets designed to target some demographic for some reason (Best guess) and you don't fit the demographic?

The tickets were for a comic book convention and they were regular priced tickets, meaning the original couple paid $30 a piece for the original tickets, same as my husband and I would have paid had we purchased the tickets ourselves. The show had sold out and another couple decided not to enter the show and sold us their tickets for the exact same price that they were being sold before they had sold out of them. The owner of the convention has claimed that I "stole" those tickets and hence threatened with a lawsuit. From what I understand, in order for it to be classified as theft by deception, the owner would have to prove that my husband and I obtained those tickets with malicious (possibly the word I'm looking for?) intent. The attorney I received the letter from is in the same city the convention owner is from. However, the letter came addressed to my married name, of which the owner of the convention would not know because my maiden name is on everything publicly and I can't figure out how they would know my address. My instinct tells me my name and address was sold to this attorney, but the "theft by deception" certainly throws me off especially since the convention owner and his "friends" had harassed me and threatened that, among other things.

 

[tranquility]

The tickets were for a comic book convention and they were regular priced tickets, meaning the original couple paid $30 a piece for the original tickets, same as my husband and I would have paid had we purchased the tickets ourselves. The show had sold out and another couple decided not to enter the show and sold us their tickets for the exact same price that they were being sold before they had sold out of them. The owner of the convention has claimed that I "stole" those tickets and hence threatened with a lawsuit. From what I understand, in order for it to be classified as theft by deception, the owner would have to prove that my husband and I obtained those tickets with malicious (possibly the word I'm looking for?) intent. The attorney I received the letter from is in the same city the convention owner is from. However, the letter came addressed to my married name, of which the owner of the convention would not know because my maiden name is on everything publicly and I can't figure out how they would know my address. My instinct tells me my name and address was sold to this attorney, but the "theft by deception" certainly throws me off especially since the convention owner and his "friends" had harassed me and threatened that, among other things.

Even with what I was supposing, it was a stretch. There is an economic theory of a "closed loop system" where non-transferable tickets are a revenue enhancer as it cuts out a secondary market. I can see them not allowing you in, I can't really see they have a real claim you stole something if you did get in with a non-transferable ticket. We could imagine a trespassing or something, but a theft seems some theoretical bar discussion than a reality.

 

[MissMizz]

I got another letter today from a different attorney so I called this one. Apparently there is a criminal charge pending against me for this, but when I told the lawyer exactly what happened, he seemed shocked that another attorney even took on this case and said it sounds like it's either a misunderstanding on the promoters part or that this guy is really a huge jerk. When I told him the promoter has had people harass me over it, he basically said he doubts there will be a conviction. I looked up the charge for my state and it appears that in order for a conviction, he has to prove that I knew that it was illegal to take those tickets based on them being non-transferable. However, I truly did not know that we could not do this. We were let into the convention and as a matter of fact, his own security waved us in after standing there and watching the entire thing. Unfortunately, I don't know who they were and hope that the lawyer can track them down to testify on my behalf.

 

[tranquility]

If there is even a potential of a criminal charge over this, don't talk to anyone but an attorney you get for yourself about this any longer.

If the police come calling, don't try to talk your way out of it. Just use your right to remain silent and tell him you'd like to talk to an attorney before any questioning.

As I said, there is certainly some theoretical theft claim. I wouldn't believe it, but the multiple attorneys are getting your name from somewhere and there may be some process that has begun by law enforcement. Personally, I'd get ahead of this and get representation now. I understand there is a cost and that cost may be better used for something else. Just because something seems silly does not mean others will feel the same way.