[Help] Finders International - genealogist specialising in tracing missing beneficiaries

[Eric the meek]

Today I received a letter from this firm:

'We are a firm of international genealogists specialising in tracing missing beneficiaries, and we believe you may be able to help us with our enquiries'.
'Please telephone us as soon as possible between 9am and 5pm Monday to Friday. You can also leave a message outside these hours. We can also be contacted by email if required.

'We should stress this is a genuine matter'.
'Thank you for your urgent attention and we look forward to hearing from you as soon as possible. Your assistance is greatly appreciated'.

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They know my full name, year of birth, address, full names of mother and father (both deceased and estates executed).

The letter is on headed paper, and included on their logos are 'Regulated by the IAPPR', 'Good Business Charter accredited', 'Associated partner of APSE - Association for Public Service Excellence' and 'Winner, Best UK Probate Research Firm - UK Probate Research Awards'.

I have googled the firm, and read the reviews, which are not all favourable. I have also googled the name of the case manager, and he has a presence on LinkedIn, which tallies.

In short, I am 90% sure this is a genuine approach. How should I proceed?

All replies welcome - humorous, knowledgeable, hints, tips, advice etc. I am also interested in finding out what percentage commission I can expect them to agree on.

Thank you all for your time.

 

[Chicken Run]

Was it from the Lagos office?

 

[KZNSeagull]

Email/phone them but don't give out any personal financial information - if they are genuine, which I'm sure they are, they won't ask for any anyway. I would imagine that they will quiz you on your relatives to try to ascertain how much of a massive fortune you are due to inherit

 

[South Stand Bonfire]

Maybe they have found the FA cup final
Money and are trawling NSC members to distribute it to?

Maybe you could email them and ask them to call you, in case it’s a telephone scam and ask them to email you details too. If it’s genuine, I can’t see why they couldn’t do that ? Bottom line is do not give out any of your account details!

 

[marlowe]

To be fair any unfavourable reviews they might have received are probably for things which are out of their control and are not responsible for. They're only the geneaologists and they have traced you, so they have carried out their function. But they're not responsible for the actual executing of the Estate of the deceased. That will be the Executor's responsibility.

Mind you they can't be that good as I haven't received a letter from them, so they clearly haven't discovered our family connection which should give me my rightful share of the vast fortune.

 

[Eric the meek]

Maybe you could email them and ask them to call you, in case it’s a telephone scam and ask them to email you details too. If it’s genuine, I can’t see why they couldn’t do that ? Bottom line is do not give out any of your account details!

I doubt if they would email me details of the estate they are looking to distribute. As I understand it, their modus operandi is to protect their position, both from genuine beneficiaries, and from rival heir hunter companies.

I am not anticipating knowing much about it until I have signed an exclusive contract with them.

 

[Eric the meek]

To be fair any unfavourable reviews they might have received are probably for things which are out of their control and are not responsible for. They're only the geneaologists and they have traced you, so they have carried out their function. But they're not responsible for the actual executing of the Estate of the deceased. That will be the Executor's responsibility.

Mind you they can't be that good as I haven't received a letter from them, so they clearly haven't discovered our family connection which should give me my rightful share of the vast fortune.

I've looked at the reviews, and the 1 star reviews are mostly people who have got impatient with the length of the process.

Both my parents have passed away, and the estates have already been executed and distributed. I'm assuming that the deceased they are investigating is someone else.

 

[mikeyjh]

I like their crispy pancakes.

 

[Right Brain Ronnie]

I think I would be having a long hard think about my family tree and if perhaps there could have been anything at all a miss, which you always thought odd but never questioned.
The curiosity killed the cat as they say!

 

[Thunder Bolt]

I've looked at the reviews, and the 1 star reviews are mostly people who have got impatient with the length of the process.

Both my parents have passed away, and the estates have already been executed and distributed. I'm assuming that the deceased that are investigating is someone else.

I’ve watched Heir Hunters on tv, where a distant cousin has died, with no near relatives, and various relatives are contacted to see if they are heirs. They do look up official registered births, deaths and marriages, and try to get a contract with the heir, before another firm does. It’s possible they find five or six heirs so the proceeds are split.
I suspect they take something like 30% in commission in a similar way, the bank scam firms did for missold loans etc

 

[jcdenton08]

They are likely genuine - although obviously use caution and common sense.

There used to be a really interesting reality TV show called “Heir Hunters” about this very subject. The way it works is unclaimed inheritances, those of someone who has died intestate, get put on a list by the government. After a certain amount of time passes, the government (HMRC) claim the money as their own.

So these companies act as private investigators and genealogists to try and track down living heirs to the inheritance. If you agree to work with them, they do all the paperwork and due diligence, then take a cut of the inheritance. Their commission was anywhere between 10-40%.

What’s interesting is that there are multiple companies doing this, and it’s a race against time to track down heirs. This can cause the variable in the commission rate (bidding off against each other)

Anyway, don’t get your hopes up about a windfall.

Nearly every request is for more information about your extended family, as publicly available genealogy sources only get these companies so far. As it’s a race against the clock, they usually reach out to every known relative for more information about the family and who would be the potential heir.

It’s entirely up to you whether to respond and engage given all the above information.

 

[Heffle Gull]

Pretty sure this is one of the firms featured in the tv programme Heir Hunters. If so then they are legit. They will normally send someone round to your home to talk through the details. Watch a couple of episodes. May help put your mind at rest.

 

[GT49er]

Are they showing you a UK address and a UK land-line number? That's always a guide (not conclusive, but a useful starting point) then look up on the Companies House website to see if they're registered.
If you decide to respond by phone or email, ask questions - but don't answer any!

 

[jcdenton08]

I dont mean to be rude, but I feel between @Thunder Bolt and I we have answered this comprehensively as to who they are and what they want. Do use caution as you always would with anyone, but this isn’t a particularly unusual letter to receive and the company are genuine (I just checked - and actually they’re in an episode of Heir Hunters I found on YouTube just now)

 

[Bodian]

New government wheeze to track people down to 'extort' IHT out of them...?

 

[driddles]

My father in law received a letter like this from a firm in Tasmania about 8 years ago (he was 87 at the time). We were skeptical, took the letter to our bank and asked for their opinion and they said it looked fake. We proceeded with extreme caution, called the contact person in Tasmania and asked for more details.... long story short my father in law was due about 40,000 as his share in a distant cousins estate. About 6 months later the money was in his account.

His father left the UK after cheating on his Mum , had other kids, and decades later one of the other kids died, was childless, and left no will. They were legitimately tracking down any known relatives.

Make sure to ask the firm what their finders fee is in all this, in Australia they can only legally claim a couple of percent as a finders fee but apparently in other places they can pretty much take it all as a finders fee.

*** And don't give them any credit card details, nothing whatsoever, ultimately we had the bank set up a new account with no money in it and sent the firm the empty account, so all they could do was send money to be deposited, if it was a scam there was nothing in the account to scam

*** Also, my father in law lived in Ontario, Canada at the time, we called his sister in Oxford and she had received the same letter. If this ends up being related to any family inheritance see if siblings received the same request. If not, be skeptical.

 

[Eric the meek]

I think I would be having a long hard think about my family tree and if perhaps there could have been anything at all a miss, which you always thought odd but never questioned.
The curiosity killed the cat as they say!

Yes ! Funny you should mention that.....

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

New government wheeze to track people down to 'extort' IHT out of them...?

If that happens you'll end up paying 40% commission and a further 40% IHT

 

[Eric the meek]

Make sure to ask the firm what their finders fee is in all this, in Australia they can only legally claim a couple of percent as a finders fee but apparently in other places they can pretty much take it all as a finders fee.

*** And don't give them any credit card details, nothing whatsoever, ultimately we had the bank set up a new account with no money in it and sent the firm the empty account, so all they could do was send money to be deposited, if it was a scam there was nothing in the account to scam

*** Also, my father in law lived in Ontario, Canada at the time, we called his sister in Oxford and she had received the same letter. If this ends up being related to any family inheritance see if siblings received the same request. If not, be skeptical.

Those three pieces of advice resonate. Thank you!

Both my sisters have received the same letter as me - I probably should have mentioned that !

 

[WATFORD zero]

Those three pieces of advice resonate. Thank you!

Both my sisters have received the same letter as me - I probably should have mentioned that !

From everything you have put on here, it seems likely that it's genuine. I'd call my sisters and then one of you call on behalf of all three, but proceed with caution ask them what they want to know, why and any financial implications and discuss with your sisters before giving any information. Good luck