Lawyers should begin switching to a .law domain name to protect themselves from the growing threat of “fake lawyers”, a report has said.
Dot Law, a restricted top-level domain, released a white paper on Thursday, October 5, highlighting the dangers of fraudsters setting up websites posing as lawyers.
“The extent of the problem is quite serious,” said Lou Andreozzi from Dot Law.
“Case after case of fraudulent websites from around the world prompted the white paper investigation, and one of the biggest contributing factors to these fraudulent websites is how simple it is to get a .com domain name,” he added.
The report went on to state that lack of regulation for a .com domain means potential forgery of online accounts is significantly easier, while a restricted .law domain can reduce that risk.
Consumer use of online search engines to identify potential legal representation surged from 19 to 28% over the course of 2015, according to the white paper, meaning the potential risk is growing.
“Dot Law believes that regulating domain names for lawyers is essential to protect the legal industry and consumers from fake legal websites, added Andreozzi.
“Unlike a .com, a .law domain name is available only to qualified lawyers and legal institutions, and requires third party verification. That means only real lawyers have .law websites.”
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