Everyone has received a “Who’s Who” email.
Not just lawyers and other professionals – pretty much anyone with a pulse.
To clarify, we’re not talking about the Who’s Who legal directory produced by the respected London-based publisher Law Business Research, but the endless derivatives and variants of the email purporting to sell you “memberships” in online directories.
Some of these products are genuine and determining what is and isn’t legitimate is not straightforward.
Vanity publishing has a long history and occupies its own niche in the market.
But there’s no doubt that the boiler room tactics employed by the Who’s Who brigade are shady to say the least.
Having worked in the legal directory industry for many years, nothing much surprises me.
Although I did find this recent email amusing.
Firstly, I was selected for the Global Who’s Who – below.
I’ve had lots of these over the years – as I am sure you have – so my next move was to click on the one of the links.
With credit card in hand, I expected to be taken to a payment page.
On this occasion, however, I am asked to choose my winning prize.
I thought I’d plump for the mystery prize.
Then, much to my surprise, I get taken to this page.
It’s from the Jewish Journal online newspaper, with a headline story about the actress Alicia Silverstone opening a vegan breastfeeding service.
All in all – a bizarre experience.
Online scams just aren’t what they used to be.
[…] Not to pick on Who’s Who Legal, which is published by the respected Law Business Research and is well regarded by many lawyers (and not to be confused with the less reputable Who’s Who-type boiler room scams). […]