I got a letter from this 'firm' today, explaining that they want me to pay £500.04 in damages for downloading a porn .avi on a P2P Bittorrent last June! I wasn't even in the Country, although there are other people living in my house in London.

My ISP is BE.

Has anyone else had any correspondence from this Company? They appear to have a website at www.acs-law.org.uk but having googled other forums, the general consensus seems to be that this is some sort of scam.

When I entered this Company in Companies House, it reported that ACS Law Ltd has been dissolved!

HI, I've also received a letter claiming the same amount today. I have no idea what this is all about and it's very worrying. If anybody has got any advice I would appreciate it. Thank you

Throw it in the bin SW treat it with contempt or at least keep and archive it - it sounds like a scam.... if it was genuine they would not mention the word, Porn, that is done to shame certain folk who could be unsure into paying -- Good tactic though. if it works for 10% of the letters they send out at random in the hope some will pay, it's a lucrative scam. ??

If in the unlikely event you receive further correspondence then that can be further checked out to see if it's genuine at a later time. ! The time for worrying about this one is, if you ever receive a genuine court summons.

Hi to all,

I have received the exact same letter today saying almost the same thing it being downloaded in June last year and I am pretty convinced it is a scam. If you look at the ACS:LAW.ORG.UK website it has different contact numbers to the ones stated on the letters, also the address might be the same, but the payment form needs to be sent to another address in London! All very suspicious....

Any thoughts...

This is my first post but Your not the first to be accused of alleged infringement as I and others have been accused but please do not panic

I can point you to a site that has collated a lot info about this matter http://beingthreatened.yolasite.com/

And are still are hard at work getting info and fighting this whole mess ... please do not ignore the letters as they are legal and most definitely not a scam.

Richie

From the FAQ in the site above - How does the legal process work?
This has yet to be tested as so far ACS and DL haven’t been challenged in court, and all their reported “success” in court that we are aware of is from unchallenged cases. We are also aware that similar cases taken to court in other EU countries were dismissed, Logistep told to stop, and in one case the Lawyer was banned for 6 months.

Only worry about it once you see this ACS crew can demonstrate they have achieved considerable success stories on individual defended cases. Until then they are like the toothless debt collectors that we see everyday threatening people on this forum and picking on the more vulnerable in our society, on the slim off-chance people are intimidated into parting with their hard earned cash in order to silence them.......very similar to blackmail. !

Worry about it when and only if, a genuine court summons pops through your letterbox, until that day arrives what is the point in taking this seriously.?... Now very sorry, but I cannot waste any more time over this ....I've got to get back to my Porn movie.? !

I received a letter yesterday to... Some old story as everyone else ? but mine is hard cord gay porn !!!!

after looking for some advise i came accross a web site with some links on. To my supprise the title of the movie on the watchdog video was the same as they are saying i down loaded... Gay porn is not my thing as my girlfriend and son would agree

BBC Watchdog program -

www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/watchdog/2008/12/davenport_lyons_threatening_le.html


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0PejRr5SCM


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCz-sOYicYA&feature=related

GO TO WATCH DOG...... Email your story to Watchdog AT bbc.co.uk

Hi

I received a letter on 10th June from ACS law claiming that I had down loaded gay porn (Army F***ers), the same mentioned on Watchdog. I was asked to pay £500.24. I will not be paying any of it! I would contact watchdog and then citizen advice beureu and get the word out.

Has been distressing for myself and my family! Especially with the wording of letter- bullying and threatening!

I will just re -iterate what I put earlier the website in my earlier post has helped a lot of people now in dealing with this.

I think most people have doen the right thing in contacting Watchdog and the like as many people have done so and maybe they will look into it.

With out trying to start an argument it's not advisable to ignore the letters till a court summons arrives

should it ever get to a court case , it's not going to look good if no response was given to letters from the solicitors.

http://beingthreatened.yolasite.com/

By law an individual is innocent until proven guilty, I am not suggesting anyone ignore these letters if a genuine case is to be pursued. Instead I suggest that people only worry about it if & when they receive a genuine summons.

There is still plenty of time and opportunity to start preparing a defence afterwards, in the unlikely off-chance a court case goes ahead, otherwise what's the point in rushing to pay a debt that you don't owe or spending money on Solicitors..... or making your life a further expensive misery by worrying about it. !

Wait for a genuine summons, without a court hearing ACS are simply making yet unfounded accusations or allegations. !

Got a great free movie on at the mo. : -- 0

conmankiller:

By law an individual is innocent until proven guilty, I am not suggesting anyone ignore these letters if a genuine case is to be pursued. Instead I suggest that people only worry about it if & when they receive a genuine summons.

There is still plenty of time and opportunity to start preparing a defence afterwards, in the unlikely off-chance a court case goes ahead, otherwise what's the point in rushing to pay a debt that you don't owe or spending money on Solicitors..... make your life a further expensive misery by worrying about it. !

Wait for a genuine summons, without a court hearing ACS are simply making yet unfounded accusations or allegations. !

I agree totally ,

I was just making people aware there is people out there that banding together to fight this as there is a massive number of people worrying about this especially people who are falsely accused but in the past it has been shown no case has went to Court against those who replied ,

just with it being a new firm its a little uncertain of what the actual outcome will be..

Regards :D

mine was also ARMY F***ERS... What a supprise

I agree Richie - I think it's a firm set up along the lines of the numerous sleazy debt collectors we read about regularly on here, their intention is to extort and intimidate people into parting with their hard earned cash whilst they expend the minimum of outlay (their profits)... and more worryingly no legal entitlement to actually collect the alleged amounts they are pursuing.

Make them take it to court and prove these alleged amounts are actually owed, then worry about paying when or if a court orders it...until that date comes remember this firm but don't worry. !

I think it's the disgraced expense fiddling MP's who have fallen off the "gravy train", they've set up their own site to keep them in the lifestyle they've become accustomed to. Didn't one of the Husbands claim expenses for a porn movie that he had ordered and watched. ?

So, I have e-mailed watchdog. Should I send a letter of deniel straight away? Is that what you will be doing Robcop 8182?

It's a ball ache I could do without at the moment!

Thanks for the advice. It's reassuring that I'm not the only one!