I have been meaning to write this post for quite some time, but just never got around to it. However, I have recently noticed an up-swing in the number of scammers using our site in an attempt to reach a potential victim in the legal industry. And it makes me very angry.

By prescreening our referral requests and direct contact emails going to our lawyers, we have literally stopped well over 7,500 of these sorts of emails reaching our members' inboxes - this year alone. Our prescreening, although time consuming, does give us personal insight to these never-ending scams.

Right now, the collaborative family law scam is probably the most prevalant one out there. Dan Pinnington wrote a post for Slaw.ca in June 2010 about the Collaborative Family Law Agreement Fraud Evolving and Becoming Even More Convincing. The initial email lawyers were receiving went something like this:

My name is [wife’s name]. I am a contacting your firm in regards to a divorce settlement with my ex husband [husband’s name] who resides in your jurisdiction. I am currently on assignment in [Hong Kong or Japan or China]. We had an out of court agreement (Collaborative Law Agreement) for him to pay [amounts ranging from $350,000-$900,000] plus legal fees. He has only paid me [amounts ranging from $30,000-$150,000] since then. I am hereby seeking your firm to assist me in collecting the balance from him. He has agreed already to pay me the balance but it is my belief that a Law firm like yours is needed to help me collect payment from my ex-husband or litigate this matter if he fails to pay as promised. Yours truly, Wife’s first and last name

But today we received over 100 separate emails - to lawyers in jurisdictions right across the country - that simply said this:

Dear Attorney,
I need an attorney to handle my family/collaborative matter.
Regards,
[Name]

Presumably, they are now turning to a less detailed approach in an attempt to establish initial contact with a "target".

My advice to you: Be aware. Read (or re-read) LawPro's Fraud Prevention information.

I am not here today to provide my insights or comments on whether or not I think a listing in the Yellow Pages online directory is an effective strategy in link development for your website. That topic, which would be a "loaded" conversation, I will save for a later date. This post is strictly about something I observed with their Sponsored Listings.

Over the past few years the Yellow Pages have had several advertising "programs" to allow advertisers to appear at or near the top of the directory pages. The programs have changed, and so have the names. You might remember them as Priority Listings, Provincial Leaders, or some variation of. Several months ago they auctioned off positionings to exisiting advertisers. It is hard to keep up with it all; but the bottom line is the advertiser pays a premium price for a premium location.

Pay more, get more. Sounds fair to me.

But I just did a search online in their directory for lawyer in Vancouver BC. Up comes the results page with two "Sponsored Listings"; Bronson Jones & Company being at the top.

Then I did the same search on my phone using their mobile site. Bronson Jones & Company were no where to be found. I gave up after searching past the first 150 lawyers in the list! It appears to me that someone who is paying a premium for yellowpages.ca is treated like a "free lister" when it comes to the mobile version of their site.

Does this still sound fair to you?

And if you are a premium online advertiser with yellowpages.ca, were you aware that your priority positioning is not currently carried over to the mobile version of their directory?