1. A 70-year-old retiree surnamed Ma fell victim to a scam in 2023 while seeking debt recovery help via short-video ads, paying 2,800 yuan to Zhengzhou Kunjun Legal Consulting Co. for promised legal services that only involved pre-litigation steps [para. 1][para. 2][para. 3]. He signed power of attorney to Wu Guowei at Henan Dinghou Law Firm but saw no court action [para. 4][para. 5].2. Wu, who left Dinghou, collaborated with Kunjun, misusing the firm's name, leading to complaints; he now heads Henan Kunjun Law Firm [para. 5][para. 6]. Dinghou's head Huang Wende refunded Ma and reported Wu's activities; a 2026 investigation confirmed Wu's illegal partnerships, false promises, forged documents, and black-market data use [para. 7][para. 8][para. 9][para. 10].3. Online legal services face widespread complaints of false guarantees and piecemeal fees; consulting firms capture traffic and funnel cases to lawyers, using "shell" law firms to evade crackdowns [para. 11][para. 12].4. Legal consulting surged due to market gaps, with 830,000 lawyers concentrated in east China; over 60,000 firms have "legal consulting" in name as of May 2026 [para. 13][para. 14]. Zhang Mou noted demand for small debt cases, but many firms treat law as profit extraction via ads [para. 15][para. 16].5. Regulations limit consultants to non-litigation advice, but 2025 crackdowns targeted fraud; firms ally with lawyers covertly [para. 17]. They rent firm accounts, segment cases, outsource trials cheaply, overcharging clients [para. 18][para. 19][para. 20].6. Ex-employees describe media firms handling sales, double-charging out-of-town clients; firms use credentials as bait [para. 21][para. 22][para. 23].7. Crackdowns sealed Hubei Sanxing Law Firm in 2024 after consulting affiliate's crimes; Hunan Yunhe Yixiang, backed by media firm, signed 1,358 contracts but faced 230 complaints, fined 100,000 yuan in 2026 [para. 24][para. 25][para. 26][para. 27][para. 28].8. Online marketing evolved from eviction cases to broad domains, prioritizing ROI over ethics; lawyers become "modules" for sales teams using deceptive tactics and AI [para. 29][para. 30][para. 31][para. 32][para. 33][para. 34][para. 35].9. Su Yan experienced a marketing team's exploitation, inheriting messy cases [para. 36]. Regions like Wuhan blacklist offenders; Hubei Zhinan lost license [para. 37][para. 38].10. Experts call for banning non-lawyer control of firms; Guangdong and Fujian issued rules; fragmented oversight hinders victims [para. 39][para. 40][para. 41]. Zhang suggests compliance tools, but Xu Shenjian warns against commodifying justice [para. 42][para. 43][para. 44]. (498 words)AI generated, for reference only