Lawyers are upheld as ethical
custodians of public justice and law and order. In the days where scams on the
internet are at an all time high, it is essential to understand how to avoid
online fraud. The lure of money transforms them from law makers to law
breakers, as they resort to a variety of unfair means to exploit their clients.
They fleece Internet users to power their ill-conceived conspiracies. Examples
of online fraud from lawyers and fake legal firms may be:
- Impersonating established legal firms and attorneys
This is a typical example of
online identity fraud. People who are on the lookout for skilled lawyers,
mostly to settle disputes abroad, may choose to go online to hire an attorney.
The existences of thousands of fake attorneys who impersonate established law
firms will eventually lad these people in a whole lot of trouble. Since all
communications are essentially carried out by email and legal fees are
transferred electronically, it becomes very easy for scammers to swindle their
customers. On behalf of the customers, their failure to look for tips on how to avoid online fraud also considerably adds to the problem.
Another variant of the scam is to
approach businesses for recovery of dues to genuine law firms. Fake emails
requiring immediate payment of dues are sent. Impersonators also resort to
getting in touch with the clients of the businesses and representing the
business under fabricated power of attorney documents. There is no universal
set of techniques on how to avoid online fraud but people can definitely be
better prepared to handle such scammers by having a basic idea of how they
work.
- Fake legal firms targeting small businesses
By initiating a fake email to
small businesses from a seemingly genuine email id of law firm, the scammers
create a situation whereby the victim is led to believe of an expensive law
suit from a competitor, the income tax department, other government bodies like
pollution control or an aggrieved consumer.
Small businesses do not have the
resources to approach established law firms and fall prey to the competitive
rates offered by the scammers who disappear soon as the first installment of
legal fees is paid. The small firms are not very informed on how to avoid
online fraud.
- Lawyers who rip off celebrities
When celebrities get entangled in
complicate legal suits such as defamation suits, estrangement suits, adultery
suits, they choose not to go in for established legal firms in order to
maintain confidentiality. Fake online law firms not only stop with usurping the
legal fees but might also misuse personal information that has been revealed on
trust.
To be thoroughly educated on how
to avoid online fraud from fake lawyers and law firms, people must regularly go
through messages and mails sent by different agencies on scam prevention.
Before hiring an online lawyer, individuals and businesses must do a due
diligence check:
- Credibility of the online law firms, before parting with sensitive information
- Leafing through reviews from clients
- Insistence on agreement to be signed, if not physically possible, at least electronically signed
- Agreements citing payments installments vis-à-vis milestones of deliverables must be demanded
- The academic and legal competency of the lawyers and attorneys assigned along with registration numbers of bar council membership in the respective countries must be sought and verified
- The client should insist on progress reports of the case with proofs wherever applicable to be sent on a regular basis
- Taking professional advice on how to avoid online fraud
