How can you spot the difference between a scam and a legitimate inheritance business? For starters, an up-and-up business will never ask you to send money in order to receive an inheritance. You can easily learn about the steps of inheritance advance.
Scams use a variety of tactics to try to convince you that you need to send money in order to receive money. Whether it is to pay taxes, court fees, or other expenses, or some other type of fee, they will always come up with something new to get their victims to send more and more money. But no matter how much a victim sends, someone who is buying into a scam will never receive their proverbial pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
Sometimes the scammer will provide documents to try to provide the appearance of credibility and legitimacy. These documents may have even originated from an actual court, but have likely been modified to add names or other details as part of the scam.
Another tactic is to convince the intended victim that their money is simply waiting in an account, safe deposit box, or a regular old box somewhere. Amateurs will cite the name of a non-existent bank, or misspell the name of an actual bank, while more seasoned scammers will at least get the name of a bank correct.
Popular scam emails also get recycled, often with some of the details modified, over and over again. A great resource to investigate the legitimacy of a claim is www.snopes.com, which sets the facts straight about all sorts of scams and misinformation circulating on the internet.
Here is one example: Windfall Inheritance
Sometimes we receive calls from the intended victims, or from people who have already sent money to a scam artist. They are looking for money to send so that they can in turn receive their anticipated millions. In other cases, the scammer will pose as a third party, such as a fiancé of an alleged heir, and act like they are trying to help someone else.
Heir finders
While scams abound, there are some legitimate players out there. Lots of people dream about receiving an inheritance from long lost rich uncle or relative. And believe it or not, this happens more often than you might expect. I spoke with one family recently who received a letter from a type of company called an “heir finder.”
They were informed about a relative who died in World War II, leaving his wife and 3-month old daughter behind. The mother got remarried and moved to the opposite coast, where she lived her life for several decades and eventually passed away. Because she had no children of her own and did not leave a will, the next of kin turned out to be the father’s relatives notified in the letter! The value of the estate was initially estimated at several hundred thousand dollars, consisting of primarily the family home. That number kept growing as additional assets were subsequently found, and eventually ballooned to several million dollars! As I am writing this the case is still in progress.
As noted above, however, they were not required to pay anything up front. They signed an agreement whereby the heir finder will receive a percentage of the eventual inheritance in exchange for finding the heirs and fronting a sizable amount of costs for an attorney and other fees.
Inheritance Advances from Heir Cash Now
Like a legitimate heir finder, Heir Cash Now, LLC will never require that a customer provide money up front in order to receive an inheritance advance. Our customers sign a straightforward contract that spells out exactly the terms of the agreement. They receive their money right away, and the agreement gets filed with the court. We get paid back the assignment amount specified in the contract when the estate eventually distributes the assets. We never charge any hidden or additional fees.
In summary, while the lure of a big payoff is understandably tempting, don’t fall victim to a scam! If you are contacted by a business, make sure the business is legitimate by looking for better business bureau certification and reviews from actual customers. And trust your instincts. If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.
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