Ms. A's Complaint | The Government Has a Duty to Protect the Public from "Fake Legal Aid"

JRF received a complaint from Ms. A and discovered that the "Legal Aid Association of the Republic of China" had purchased Google keyword advertising for the term "Legal Aid Foundation." The ad was titled "Legal Aid Foundation Helps You-Free Government Legal Consultation," creating confusion between the association and the Legal Aid Foundation and diverting disadvantaged people seeking help, thereby obstructing their access to free legal-aid resources provided by the state.

1. Ms. A became involved in litigation arising from a dummy-account fraud case and needed legal aid. As a rank-and-file worker with limited financial means, she searched online for "legal aid" to find assistance.

   

2. After clicking on a result labeled "Legal Aid Foundation," however, she was instead directed to the website of the "http://www.880085.net/" Legal Aid Association of the Republic of China.

   

3. After she added the association on LINE through the website, its LINE representative told her, among other things, "Many people think, as you do, that if they argue forcefully the prosecutor will accept it-but what you are doing is merely making excuses," and "We have many lawyers." The representative emphasized that Ms. A should retain counsel and provided the business card of attorney Shen Ching-Chia, the association's chairperson.

   

   

   

4. Attorney Shen Ching-Chia did in fact obtain Ms. A's case through the association's representative and assigned an employed attorney to prepare written submissions, charging Ms. A a total of NT$50,000 for drafting submissions during the investigation stage.

   

   

   

5. When JRF interviewed Ms. A about the circumstances of the dummy-account fraud case, she mentioned that she had had a bad experience with "legal aid" and showed us the relevant LINE messages. Only after JRF staff explained the situation did she learn that the Legal Aid Foundation does not refer clients to particular lawyers and that lawyers providing legal aid through the Foundation do not charge clients fees. She then realized that she had been misled by the association.