Dh keeps getting phone calls about a late relative's property

[notatallcuriousmama]

I know there's a scam going round to do with property. Today they said the relative's name. The relative did own property before they died.

Dh doesn't let them get to the point of explaining what they want.

I googled the mobile number and nothing comes up?

Has anyone had similar?

Why doesn’t he listen then he will know the purpose of the call. There are lots of heir hunter agencies that will help people claim a rightful inheritance for a cut of the profits.

There are also scams.

Listen to Grave Robbers on BBC Sounds, they explain it well.

Haven’t had this or heard of the scam. It’s possible it could be a scam of course, though often nowadays when you google a number others have reported it as a nuisance call.

if you think there’s a possibility it could be real you could see what you can find out. Have you tried calling the number back? Scam numbers tend to be dead when you call back, they don’t connect so cut off immediately.

Is there any other family who know the situation with the estate?

Thanks. It is exasperating that he won't listen to them. Especially when they know his and the late person's name.

Really stupid not to listen for at least half a minute, just to suss them out.

If you've googled the number, maybe call them yourself and ask what they want?

Is he ok? Unless he’s giving bank details what’s the issue with listening to a call or asking for a number to call back, is he usually this paranoid?

No he isn't usually paranoid. The first calls didn't mention the decreased's name. It's only now they've said the name I've said he needs to listen.

We have an old payg mobile I'm going to get him to ring back on that.

Is it from a mobile number, I'd be wary calling back in case it's a scam with high cost return calls, how would they have got your dh phone number in the first place. What does the number start with, Google who called me. We're there solicitors or executors involved with the deceased property at the time, how long ago did they die, were they a close relative, any other family around?

I don't think he should be calling back on a mobile to mobile.

Next time they call he needs to ask for the name of the person calling and the name and city/town of the organisation that they are calling from.

Then look that up to see if it is a legitimate business.

Certainly don't get sucked into giving information out to an unknown person on an unknown number, but equally if they have names and other details then someone has definitely done a degree of investigation.

This is what I would have done. Asked more questions.

If he rings on the payg they can't get much.

They are coffin chasers by the sounds of it.

They don’t initially provide the deceased persons name until you sign up with them to represent you in your claim to the estate because otherwise you could just go and claim it yourself and they wouldn’t get their commission.

We had one a few years ago and all my aunts and uncles bit their hand off to sign up thinking they would get money themselves. They didn’t realise they had to contact everyone they could locate who would be entitled. My brother and I refused to sign up, however because others had, they represented their claims and still had to make any portion that we would have been entitled to available to us. turned out to be about £1 each which we found hilarious because the others had been so greedy and secretive about wanting to claim the estate of someone they never even knew.

Until you sign up and consent to them representing your claim, they don’t know the estate value so they’ll say they want a 15% commission for their work to get you the estate. Sometimes it’s worth nothing, other times it could be a lot so they are taking a gamble and can be a lot of work because they have to build your family tree and contact anyone who could be entitled to a share.

You can always look the person up and claim the estate yourself if you can see which local authority they died under. If anyone else in DH’s family has signed up with them, he can refuse to sign up and let them do all the work and still get his share. The company that processed ours were fuming and said we were being morally unfair etc and we should sign up to give them 15%. We just refused saying they were morally wrong chasing coffins.

Ask them for their company name and google them. They should have a website and you’ll be able to get the number and call the office to verify. Will also likely have google/trustpilot reviews if they are a real company.

Thanks all.

The person died over 2 years ago. Left everything to their spouse. That's what's strange about this? Person did have a few properties. We know spouse hasn't bothered with probate. Head is in the sand. Deceased is a close relative to dh.

Deceased didn't leave anything to their ds who they were close to so doubt they'd leave anything to dh.