Legal Cheek has obtained copies of the LPC funding scam emails that have prompted the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) to issue a warning to wannabe lawyers
On Friday the SRA warned law graduates not to be fooled by scam emails falsely stating they can get their Legal Practice Course (LPC) partially funded by a government body named True Personal Injury Solicitors.
As you may have detected from the suggestion that a firm of ambulance chasers is somehow an arm of the state, the email — sent from the address Gov-uk@consultant.com by a ‘Matthew Mccormak’ — sits at the more implausible end of the spectrum of scams.
Here is the first one (note that it is to a Kingston University student, but the SRA fears the scam may be more widespread, with the data for the emails apparently obtained from Facebook):
The second email, which hit inboxes last month after the first one had appeared, is less patient, hinting that the 24/7 email response capability promised in Mark I may not have been tested to its limits. This time an immediate invitation to a meeting in “Kingscross London” is extended.
Depressingly for the future of the legal profession, the shoddily-written correspondence has not been totally unsuccessful. Legal Cheek understands that it has fooled some desperate law students into breathless replies in which they have spoken of their gratitude to ‘Matthew Mccormak’ and the rest of his government body personal injury pals, and asked for further instruction.
The suckered prospective solicitors are then apparently asked to send a proportion of their LPC fee payment to True Personal Injury Solicitors on trust that they will pass it onto their law school of choice, with good old Mccormak contributing the remaining amount. What could possibly go wrong?
It should be noted that while True Personal Injury Solicitors doesn’t actually exist, and Matthew Mccormak is not listed on the SRA’s books, True Solicitors is very much real — with the Leeds-based outfit’s distinctive logo having being appropriated by the scammers. Clearly, True Solicitors is not involved in the scam in any way.
