My wife received a letter that had us scratching our heads initially. It said that it was from a wealth management section of a law firm. It went on to say that one of their clients, a stockbroker and CPA, died 5 years ago of COVID, and the firm could not identify any next of kin. However, they noticed that the person had the same last name as my wife, so perhaps she could claim a share of the inheritance.
If the above had come in an email, I would have almost immediately said fraud. However, since it came through the U.S. Postal Service, it had me wondering. It’s not my experience to see scam mail sent through the U.S. Postal Service.
Another thing, which I commented on some time ago, is that stories are more believable if they contain details. In the above letter, the person’s cause and year of death were mentioned. Also, the careers are named (though I am not sure how many CPAs are also stockbrokers). In short, lots of details may give an air of authenticity, but of course just looking authentic doesn’t mean that something is the real McCoy.
Some of the details in the letter checked out. For example, the law firm mentioned is a bona fide organization. That is, there is a website that seems totally legit that has the same name that the letter is purportedly coming from. Also, the person’s name given as the author of the letter is someone listed on the law firm’s website.
However, I kept searching and noticed that while the law firm was in Canada (according the the firm’s website), the return address on the letter was in the U.S. I did a street view search of the U.S. address and found what looked to be an auto supply store.
Thus, we concluded that the letter is one of the relatively rare scams sent via the U.S. Postal Service. Rare perhaps, but to be avoided definitely.
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