A request for you to pay a fee by an untraceable method like wiring cash using a gift card or Bitcoin is a huge red flag. No legitimate third party would ask for this.
Remember they are professionals and they can weave in a convincing story about how you're linked to the deceased or whoever currently has the money. More Dennis Horton: Thinking of having some fun with a con artist, scammer? The joke could still end up on you The con may seem to know a lot about you – but often they get their information from the questions they are asking – exactly the reason you never provide information to an unknown stranger. Often the crooks work as a group, with one pretending to be the attorney, another a bank or financial institution and perhaps a third being some sort of government official or even a relative of the deceased. These are pretty sophisticated operations. The victims often rack up thousands in these phony charges before realizing they’ve been conned. The scammer claims to have run into a difficulty, often the need to pay tax on the amount, again in advance. There are still some upfront fees, usually less than $100. Instead they pretend the loot is tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars. The crooks also aren’t promising the multi-million-dollar windfall. Seeing the opening here, the scammers are pretending to be one of these. Online shopping scams: They're more likely than you think. There is no fee to search the ICash data base. The internet is also loaded with websites that offer access to public records and actually conduct searches for users - generally there is a cost attached to these services. There are legitimate professionals, like probate attorneys, who make their living from tracking down will beneficiaries. In fact, nationwide estimates suggest there could be as much as $52 billion worth of this cash floating about between lawyers and state or federal government sources. They may be matured insurance policies, unsettled debts or bankruptcies.
In Illinois it’s called ICash, and the State Treasurer is holding $2.5 billion in unclaimed funds.
The new hook is there is some unclaimed fortune waiting for you to pick up. What’s changed is the rich relative or dead Nigerian prince is no longer the angle.
ILLINOIS ICASH HOW TO
Phone safety: Here's how to tell if your phone has been hacked and what you can do about itĪnd unfortunately, there are enough people willing to believe their ship has finally come in. Here’s the but - now the crooks have come up with ways of making the scam seem more convincing. When the con stops working, the crooks know when to give up. The frequency had just sort of faded away. Well, the inheritance scams are back - not that they ever really left. So now you’re rich! Remember those dream-come-true emails or even a fax that said you inherited a fortune from a long lost relative?Īll you had to do was either pay a fee to get your hands on the cash or provide your bank account info so it could be transferred to you.
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