UK lawyer denies restarting download scam in Greece
A British lawyer whose firm demanded money from alleged illegal downloaders in the United Kingdom has denied re-starting the scheme in Greece, the BBC has reported.
Andrew Crossley told the BBC that e-mails sent out in the name of ACS:Law were a scam and nothing to do with him.
The messages accuse their recipients of file sharing and demand payments of £1,665.
Crossley’s firm was wound-up and he is the subject of disciplinary action for sending similar letters in the UK.
The Greek letters were brought to light by Ralli Solicitors, which represented some of those accused by ACS:Law. It is now advising a client based in Greece.
“They have received e-mails purporting to be from the law firm,» said Ralli solicitor Michael Forrester.
The letters have been sent to overseas addresses.
“The IP addresses quoted do not appear conventional, making reference to country codes outside of the UK,» said Forrester.
“Despite this, the letters of claim refer to UK law under the Copyrights, Design and Patents Act,» he added.
One of the letters seen by the BBC read: «We act as solicitors for DigiProtect Ltd, the owners of copyright of various films and music rights.
“Our client has retained forensic computer analysts to search for and identify internet addresses from which their copyright works are being made available on so-called peer-to-peer programs.”
The letter asks that cheques are made payable to ACS:Law and supplies a central London address, which is in an adjacent building to where the law firm used to trade from.
However, Andrew Crossley contacted the BBC to say he was not involved.
“It is not my email, not my address – the address is old and post code is misstated, there is no client or company of that name, it is not a demand made by me and it is quite clear from the way it was written that it was not,» he wrote in an e-mail.
Crossley said he plans to contact the police in relation to the messages.
