How To Avoid Fake Lawyer Scams - Above the Law

"The scam made money because the scammer told the victim that in order to release funds that were allegedly owed to the victim, the victim needed to pay the scammer sums for taxes, bank charges, and other fees. As the scammer told the victim more fees were due, the victim felt compelled to pay the fees since the victim had already paid significant sums to the scammer and did not want this money to go to waste."

"The victim of this scam showed me the retainer agreement and other materials that had been provided by this fake lawyer. It was evident to me in 10 seconds that the retainer agreement was not legitimate. The agreement seemed AI-generated and included content that would not be in a retainer agreement generated by a law firm."

"The victim also showed me an image from the fake law firm's website. This website looked like any other law firm website, but the URL had nothing to do with the name of the fake firm. When I looked up the URL for the website in the ICANN registry, I discovered that it had only been registered a few days before the scammers contacted the victim."

Scammers pose as lawyers specializing in asset recovery to defraud victims seeking to recover frozen bank account funds. The scheme operates by convincing victims to pay upfront fees for taxes, bank charges, and other expenses. As victims pay initial fees, they become psychologically invested and continue paying additional requested fees to avoid losing their previous payments. Eventually, scammers claim the bank account is frozen, preventing fund release. Red flags include AI-generated retainer agreements with inappropriate content, website URLs unrelated to the firm name, and recently registered domains. Victims can verify lawyer credentials through official channels and scrutinize legal documents and websites for authenticity.

Read at Above the Law