Have you ever received an email or a letter out of the blue from a legal firm, saying that you are the sole beneficiary to the estate of someone recently deceased that you have never heard of?

No?

Well, if you do now, you’ll understand why you should be very cautious about it.

The correspondence will tell you that this mysterious person died recently, be it in an accident or whatever.

They’ll gladly send you a copy of the will to prove the point and even direct you to their website so you can verify both are legitimate.

Identity Theft

Of course, they are not.

Far from it.

What the scammer is trying to do is get you to reply, at which time their process of releasing the proceeds of the will to you will involve lots of checks on your identity and banking details (so that they can steal them, empty your account and steal your identity).

If you visit one of their websites it will be a clever copy, made to look like a real legal site.

Even answering their post or email is ill advised – you will just be confirming your postal or email address which will then leave you open to more spam and phishing correspondence in the future.

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Article by Lee

Lee's non-technical background allows him to write about internet security in a clear way that is understandable to both IT professionals and people just like you who need simple answers to your security questions.

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