Lawyers' names are being used to perpetuate scams.

Typically, it involves a new Bar member who hasn't listed a phone number or e-mail address with the Bar. But sometimes it is a more brazen scheme that involves a veteran or even high-profile Florida lawyer--even Attorney General Bill McCollum.

The problem is scam artists pretending to be lawyers to boost credibility with their intended victims. Most of the schemes involve the fake "lawyer" contacting a Florida resident and telling him or her they have won a lottery or sweepstakes, frequently based in another country, and then trying to get them to pay for insurance, transfer fees, courier costs, or other imaginary expenses.

But some involve real estate deals or other scams; the incident where the con artist used McCollum's name involved a fraudulent wire transfer.

Florida Department of Law Enforcement spokesperson Kristen Perezluha said the victim of the fraud lives in Bradenton and the matter is being investigated by the agency's Sarasota office.

The Bar learns about such scams when the victims contact the Bar's Attorney-Client Assistant Program seeking to file a grievance against the "attorney" they think took their money or when a victim or attorney contacts the Bar's Unlicensed Practice of Law Department.

Bar staff working for ACAP, which screens all grievance inquiries, say the victims usually don't realize the con artist wasn't an attorney until they contact the Bar and the Bar gets in touch with the real attorney.

The Bar News reported last year that the Unlicensed Practice of Law Department had opened a handful of investigations involving attorney impersonations. Since then, ACAP attorneys have seen an increasing number of complaints. In most cases, the victims didn't realize they were dealing with a phony lawyer until they contacted the Bar.

The type of scam also appears to be changing. The UPL cases opened last year involved the fake attorneys collecting fees for potential clients and then disappearing or claiming to have a buyer for the victims' timeshare and needing payments to pay closing and other costs.

This year, ACAP attorneys are seeing cases that involve sweepstakes or lotteries in other countries.

Shanell M. Schuyler, a senior attorney with ACAP, has fielded several complaints from victims and laid out how the scam usually works.

The victim, she said, "receives a call from the [fake] attorney stating that he represents American Dream Sweepstakes and the [victim] has just won $1.6 million, which is in trust in an offshore...