Police: Fraudulent ‘Inheritance’ Letter Circulating

July 8, 2014

The Bermuda Police Service Financial Crime Unit is advising the public that a fraudulent ‘inheritance’ letter is currently circulating claiming to be from ‘John Pedro Attorneys.’

A police spokesperson said, “Numerous residents have reported receiving the letter, enclosed in a handwritten envelope which begins, ‘My name is Attorney John Pedro a legal practitioner based in Johannesburg and the personal attorney to late Mr. Randolph Marriott, a Foreign National who died along with his wife and two sons in a robbery attack in their farm settlement home in Johannesburg, South Africa.’

“It goes on to claim that, ‘I have reasoned very professionally and I feel it will be legally proper to present you as the next of kin to my deceased client, so that you can be paid the funds left in his bank account. I therefore seek your consent to present you as the next of kin to the deceased since you are at an advantage. The proceeds of this bank account valued at USD$10.5Million US Dollars can be paid to you. We shall both share the funds equally, 50% for me and 50% to you.’

“Such requests via unsolicited ‘official looking’ correspondence should be ignored.

“Once again, members of the public are advised to be extremely cautious when considering whether or not to send funds to persons who have contacted them unexpectedly, especially persons whose identity cannot be properly established.”

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Comments (7)

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  1. Unbelievable says:

    People can’t be that gullible!!! Please tell me people won’t fall for such a letter!!! Just delete the garbage, not even sure why the authorities need to be involved or contacted. This is just common sense. These letters have been around for some time now. Just ignore them people……

    • PBanks says:

      Because there’s a sucker born every minute, and people are susceptible to greed (get rich quick schemes), people will continue to try to swindle money from people.

      “You’re going to get a huge sum of money, all you need to do is wire me a few hundred for ‘processing fees’…” – don’t fall for it, people.

  2. Smh says:

    My Grandparents received it! VIA THE ORDINDARY MAIL stamped from South Africa!! Craziness. I told grandparents to toss it!~ in any event Scandalous that they are now moving to usurp the elderly with their scams via hand delivered mail knowing that 90% of the time they do not use the Internet. SAD

    • PBanks says:

      Good on you for telling your grandparents to discard the letter.

      Mind you, scams of this nature have been around before the Internet era, it’s just now that they’re a worldwide pain.

  3. nuffin but the truth says:

    it’s from Idi Amin…he’s back in Africa and he’s after your money.

  4. Only then can a true islander accept their monies…

  5. j.desilva says:

    Shucks. I thought I was the only one to get that letter. I didn’t want to have to split my inheritance 50 / 50 with a lawyer. So I put the letter in the trash. Better he get nothing then us making that split!