Scareware lawyers could be set to be a thing of the past. It effects a number of issues from p2p file sharing to debt collectors.

In essence, these are Law Firm letter heads for rent – send a demand with the apparent power of a legal firm. Although in  many cases the firm really has no interest in pursuing the case. It is quite popular amongst debt collectors. Many of which have usually purchased your debt from the original creditor with no legal basis to do so. The information commissioner has already stated that the selling of debt to debt collectors is unfair and likely to be unlawful yet the process continues. Those firms tend to pull in the services of a law firm to send a demand for payment. For debt specific issues you may want to visit DpcRegistry

The practice however has recently came to the light of Which? which specifically involves one legal firm called ACS Law. They have been most notorious for dealing with unlawful file sharing. Under the equally dubious title of the Digital Economy Act. Andrew Crossley of ACS Law however is to face a tribunal with the Solicitors Regulation Authority over the companies activities.

Two partners at the Davenport Lyons firm are facing  equal accusations and a trial of them is expected to begin in 2010. Which? believes this to be an unacceptable delay. At least action is being taken against scammers however. The tactics of the two legal firms is very similar to fraudulent activity based on file sharing reported by TorrentFreak which sees a “legitimate” looking screen that has detected the activity – it is a Trojan of course. Users get to take the case to court or pay an immediate “get out of jail” style fee of $400.

References
Which?
DPCRegistry
APC
The Register