I received a letter addressed personally to me from what looks like a very legit Australian company.
The letter states I'm owed money and that I should contact them to provide ID documents and that I have to pay a fee.
They won't tell me who the money is from etc.
Before I shred the letter or use it as spare toilet paper, has anyone else had this? (Not just a typical bad spelling and poor grammar 419 scam letter)
Nothing comes up on the search.
I may be able to get a pic of the letter, however I'm a little reluctant at this stage to disclose specific details.
Your own reluctance already suggests it is dodgy. If it is making you behave this way it is well on its way to working.
These scams cause people to be secretive because the pay-off is so good. There is a fear that if the information is shared (and scrutinized) the large payoff will be lost or have to be shared.
In fact, I am tempted to bet you a substantial amount of money that you never get any money. So that way more than just the 419ers get to share in the money.
Out of interest, does the letter writer have an Armenian surname (ie ends with -ian, or -yan, as in Kim Kardashian)?
lolwut? I'm Armenian. What do Armenians have to do with this?
I remember a rash of these letters from a while back. I don't remember the writer's name but it was an Armenian surname. No offence intended.
Surnames with ends -ian or -yan are Armenian surnames and no way are American
Huh??
You will find in at least 90% of chances they're Armenian. All Armenian's surnames definitely end in "ian" or "yan" for a fact. I have only met 2 other Indians whose surnames end in "ian" and they're a bit obvious to dfferentiate from typical Armenian surnames.
Don't know why all th negs
Was the letter from Kim Kardashian?
She can write?
Hmmmmmm….
I know some very nice nigerian friends who would love to get in contact with you about some money you could claim
I'm assuming the OP knows the difference between a Nigerian scam and an Australian business.
hey ihbh, i received a letter in the mail thats address to u and got sent to me accidentally. It says you are due for some money but needs a fee to collect. I'll process all this for you, just pay me a fee, a couple of million should be fine, i'm sure you are owed around 100 billion in lost……. err, interest from your err super savings
This scam is so popular it has its own name. 'Advance fee fraud' (or 419). Pay a small fee in advance to receive a large amount of money. You don't see the money and possibly your ID info is also used for ID theft. So not only have you had your ID stolen, you paid them to do it!
If you give this ‘company’ your ID documents (your name, address, birthday….etc.) They can easily use those documents to get a credit card or a loan under YOUR NAME…
My dad got a similar letter once, he paid the fee (which wasn't a trivial percentage of what he was owed), and got a couple of grand from it. So some are legit.
First I'd use ASIC's unclaimed money search (https://www.moneysmart.gov.au/tools-and-resources/find-uncla…) as they could easily just be using this to find people who are owed money.
provide ID documents
These are proof of identity - obviously don't provide banking details.
Did your dad get it as a cheque?
Sorry for the delay - I had to find out.
He was given a cheque minus their fee. He had to provide ID (!). It was some money hunting company from Melbourne.
Apparently he checked out the company first, but he regularly asks me if some really obvious email scam he received sounds legit.
I can't guarantee my father didn't get his identity stolen, as crooks would have soon realised they just inherited a big debt and ran.
What Janko said.
I've just been through this exercise recovering some lost money for the mother-in-law.
The moneysmart site is the place to go if you want to check for lost money.
Coincidentally, while we were in the process of recovery my mother-in-law also received a letter from a company claiming they could get lost money she was owed … for a fee.
She'd got as far as entering her details as requested by the letter but just thought she would double check with us before hitting the send button.
A little googling of the company name she provided turned up the fact that they were also into bad debt collection as a sideline!
They are based in Melbourne.
Check the company on theh Internet, and the govt ABN lookup site. Don't use the details provided in theh letter and contact them direct, by phone, to see if they do indeed send out such letters and have sent one to you. If it does turn out to be legit get them to take your 'fee' from the payout amount.
So Orgazmo, are you able to provide further specifics? Will you let us know what you decide to do?
Have you tried googling various phrases ( excluding names -which are usually changed) from the letter?
No Armenian names.
Nothing really comes up on Google other than the company pages.
My feeling is, if it was legit they would send a not negotiable cheque that only I can deposit for an amount less their fees if they're that concerned about getting the right person.
The letter refers to a business owing me money I've never been involved with which they are acting on behalf.
Anyway, I'm aware of the 419, so don't get too excited, I used to enjoy reading 419eater.com back in the day.
I just wanted to see if anyone else got one like this recently. I'm not going to do anything with the letter.
If you have never been involved with the company from which the funds apparently derive, you should not take it because there is no way it could rightfully be yours. As a minimum you would have to give the money back if it was wrongly distributed.
check their abn and call the business listed there not on the letter.
This type of thing showed up on an episode of this BBC series, if you search through the series etc you should find it.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b017k61c
Letter from lawyer firm in malaysia, looked perfect there was a real law firm and real lawyer but he was a crook.
"You've Been Scammed" BBC
Worth a bit of a look through the series list.
Series 2 episode 13
The letter received looked perfect and legal.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01rn9x9
Inheritance Scam
Image for Inheritance Scam
Not currently available on BBC iPlayer
Series 2 Episode 13 of 15
DURATION: 30 MINUTES
Matt meets Barrie, who was so convinced he had inherited a fortune from a long lost relative he gave up his job. Sadly for him, it was an elaborate scam. Plus; how the boating world was rocked by the activities of a conman who sold the same boats to multiple people.
I actually got a letter somewhat like this. I was as suspicious as any jaded internet veteran would be but it was the most convincing of these types of letters I've received. I guess main signals were the fact it was a physical letter, had proper spelling/punctuation, no weird phrasings etc, and the company and person seemed legitimate once google'd.
I passed it onto my folks who have more spare time than me (and usually spend it on ozbargain - hi mum and dad!) and I believe they used the unclaimed money search site (posted by neil) to find something - it was related to an old ING (or rabo? I forget) bank account I opened 5+ years ago during on of those open-account-get-$X-free deals and promptly forgot about.
I think the amount was for $500 or thereabouts and I was able to obtain it. So yeah, sometimes legit.
Yes, some are 'legit' but will charge you a decent fee for the privilege.
It can be done for nothing through the ASIC moneysmart web site.
delete
I would go to a bank and ask them to discount it. if the bank pays you the money, don't use the money till the bank has actually cleared the doc. if the bank refuses..then you know the answer
Huh?
sounds like a scam. you need to very thoroughly research the company and independently verify all the details before handing over any money.
Just reply "great! Now you have my address, just send me cash less the fee will be much appreciated"
If you want to have a good laugh at how others have gotten square with lowlife scammers have a look at www.419eater.com !
watch a current affairs or today tonight for a week
u will see that letter on the show
I got one of those letters, and looked up my name in the government gazzette. Recovered a few thousand dollars from shares. I didn't miss it because I thought the shares had the dividends re-inevested so wasn't expecting cheque.
I didn't go through the company who sent the letter I just recovered it myself, which was easy.
So the moral is to not just throw the letter away, you might have something due.
I check the unclaimed money website every few years.
Oh, just found some money owed to the wife. Woot. Gold baby, gold!
What is this unclaimed money website link?
dw i found it.
https://www.moneysmart.gov.au/tools-and-resources/find-uncla…
Folks, this is what I'm on about above.
Obviously if you can't tell the difference between a Nigerian scam and situations like this, give it a miss.
Surely you don't believe it to be true? How naive can you be even posting it on OzBargain!!
I would assume everyone on here is quite savvy.
This is fraud. Why would they need to ask for money up front when they can deduct any fee from the money they want to give you? Why would they need ID from you when they are contacting you and obviously have found you and are already sure they have the right person by name and address? Obvious fraud is obvious.
I've come to the conclusion that it may be legit but I'm not the intended recipient if so.
Long story short, I've been made aware that the business listed on the letter for which the company is acting on behalf is looking for a person with a very similar name to mine.
Thanks for the update. I was interested to hear how it turned out.
Sounds dodgy. Why would they need to charge a fee? Can you upload a pic of the letter?
Check the official government unclaimed money search