Finding clients is one of the biggest challenges facing mass tort lawyers. But that task has gotten even more challenging for lawyers working on Camp Lejeune, which could end up being one of the largest-ever mass tort cases.

Many of these attorneys have been paying firms for the names of people who've been exposed to toxic water at the military base and may be entitled to a government payout. However, in some cases the attorneys later discover that the names and details in the leads are totally fabricated, according to recent reporting from Bloomberg Law.

At best, this adds to lawyers' workloads as they have to weed out the real leads from the fake. At worst, it can get the lawyers in serious trouble if they don't realize their clients' story is fake until too late. On this episode of our weekly podcast, On The Merits, reporters Kaustuv Basu and Emily R. Siegel explain how these lead generating scams work and why they're bad news not just for attorneys but also for real Camp Lejeune victims.

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