News Releases

Fraud Schemes Leave Many Victims in their Wake: Public and Attorneys

Fake legal firm websites, stolen attorney identities, phony clients with debt cases that resolve miraculously fast: these are all tactics used by scammers to steal money from the public and attorneys alike. Recent examples:

• A California case involved scammers who stole the identity of a retired Maryland attorney to create a bogus website and defraud owners of a Cancun, Mexico timeshare out of $71,000.
• The San Francisco County District Attorney’s Office recently announced additional felony charges against Russell A. Robinson, a former California attorney who was disbarred in 2021. The San Francisco District Attorney’s Office alleges that Robinson continued to illegally operate as an attorney after his disbarment.
• The State Bar’s Office of Chief Trial Counsel (OCTC) recently announced the seizure of the practice of Efferin Deans, a Lake Balboa man who had 22 aliases and no law license. He brazenly attempted to represent clients in Southern California courthouses, where he preyed on Spanish speakers looking for legal assistance. He was charged with multiple misdemeanor counts related to the unauthorized practice of law, and the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office charged him with multiple related felonies.

The public can use the State Bar of California’s website to check that a California attorney is in good standing, active, and not suspended or disbarred. Consumers can also use the attorney search feature to check that contact information they may have for an attorney matches what is on the State Bar profile. No record of a person as an attorney, or a different State Bar number, phone, email, website, or address are all red flags for fraud.

“Whether you’re a member of the public or a licensed attorney, basic precautions can help you avoid being victimized by scammers who use the legal system to rob others of their money, often with devastating impacts to people's lives, reputation, and legal standing,” said George Cardona, State Bar Chief Trial Counsel. “A little bit of time and care can save a lot of heartache.”

Attorney identity theft is just one of the types of cases handled by the unit of the State Bar ’s Office of Chief Trial Counsel assigned to pursue the unauthorized practice of law (UPL). UPL is a crime. People who hold themselves out as practicing law who are not authorized to do so can do significant harm to the public.

The State Bar coordinates with local law enforcement on such cases. If you believe you have been defrauded by someone posing as an attorney, please contact us and file a complaint.

It is not just consumers who need to ensure the people they are dealing with are legitimate. Attorneys can also be victims of fraud and should take the same advice in checking the credentials of people they meet who claim to be California-licensed attorneys. A scam targeting attorneys pointed out in media reports is a fake client who reaches out to an attorney asking for debt-collection representation. The lawyer contacts a fake debtor and receives a check fairly quickly, which the lawyer puts in his client trust account. The fake client asks for payment from the attorney, receives it, and soon after the debtor check bounces. The attorney is out whatever he paid, and the scammers are long gone.  

California attorneys should follow the best practices in client trust accounting: A client’s funds aren’t available for a lawyer to disperse to the client (i.e., used on the client’s behalf) until the funds have cleared the banking process and been credited by the bank to the lawyer’s client trust account.  

What can you do to try to protect yourself from fraudulent actors posing as attorneys?

• Ask for the attorney’s State Bar number.
• Look them up on the State Bar website to see if their license is active and whether they have any history of discipline.
• Check that the address, phone number, and email, and website listed in correspondence matches what appears on the attorney’s profile on the State Bar website.
• Call the phone number listed on the attorney’s State Bar profile to make sure you are dealing with the correct attorney.
• Make sure to get your agreement in writing, as well as receipts for payments you make.
• Be wary if someone requires cash payments.
• Keep a paper trail. If you don't have a bank account, use another monetary option, like a money order or cashier's check, but be aware that you cannot stop payment on a cashier’s check or money order.
• If you have already made a payment, a California attorney must provide you an accounting of your bills. Anyone who refuses or neglects to do this is suspect.
• If you believe you have been defrauded by someone posing as an attorney, please contact us and file a complaint. You may also want to file a complaint with local law enforcement authorities, or with federal authorities, such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), US Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), or Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
• The State Bar makes available unauthorized practice of law complaint forms and instructions in multiple languages.

What steps should attorneys take if they believe their identity has been stolen?

• Contact the State Bar’s Office of Attorney Regulation, 888-800-3400.
• We place an internal note on the attorney’s State Bar records, in case a complaint is ever made about the attorney.
• We encourage attorneys victimized by identity theft to file a police report with local law enforcement.  You may also want to file a complaint with federal authorities, such as the FBI, USPIS, or FTC, if fraud is evident.
• We encourage attorneys to file formal UPL complaints with the State Bar.
• When cases allegedly involve fraudulent use of letterhead, we report them to federal authorities – the FBI or USPIS for mail fraud and identity theft, and the FTC for identity theft.

###

Follow the State Bar online
LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram

The State Bar of California's mission is to protect the public and includes the primary functions of licensing, regulation and discipline of attorneys; the advancement of the ethical and competent practice of law; and support of efforts for greater access to, and inclusion in, the legal system.