A Red Deer, Alta. man is facing 12 charges after RCMP received complaints he was pretending to be a lawyer.
An investigation began in March after police were told a man had told the victim he was a lawyer and had taken money and prepared legal documents.
During the investigation nine more victims came forward with similar complaints that they had been defrauded between December 2016 and April 2017.
The suspect operated under a fake business name – SS & Associates LLP.
Red Deer RCMP arrested Chance Shaw, 26, at his home on June 7.
Police said they seized “electronics and documents relevant to the investigation” from the home.
Shaw is facing six charges of use, trafficking or possession of a forged document, four counts of fraud under $5,000 and one count each of forgery and false pretences.
He is scheduled to be in Red Deer court July 21.
The legal profession in the province of Alberta is regulated by the Law Society of Alberta. An online tool called the Lawyer Directory allows the public to search for a specific lawyer by name, location, firm, area(s) of practice, gender and language(s) spoken.
The society urges Albertans to check the directory to see if a lawyer they’re looking to hire is on there. If the lawyer does not appear it may mean he or she is not authorized to practice in Alberta.
Anyone with concerns about the unauthorized practice of law is urged to contact the law society at 1-800-661-9003.