A LISBURN family got a pleasant surprise recently when what appeared to be a 'scam' letter turned out to be a genuine attempt to trace them and let them know they have been left money in the will of an Australian relative who died over 12 years ago.

With the recent warnings about cons the arrival of an unexpected letter from an Australian company addressed to the dead man's sister -who herself passed away suddenly eight years ago - set alarm bells

ringing, especially when it asked her to send bank details so her entitlement could be forwarded directly into her bank account.

The dead woman's daughter contacted the Star to see if anyone else had received anything similar.

However, checks found that the company did indeed exist and the letter was genuine. They were sorting out the dead man's estate and were keen to distribute the money to those who had an entitlement.

The woman's daughter said: "We felt the letter was strange as it arrived so unexpectedly from a foreign country.

"It asked for her bank details, which you are always warned to be aware of, and we just felt the whole thing seemed very strange." In an email to the Star, Judy Will from the Australian company said: "We are administering the Estate of (the man) who died many years ago. The estate was finalised soon after but since then we have received further monies that we need to distribute to the beneficiaries."

She said that if people who were to receive the money had passed away in the meantime, they would pass it onto the executor for them to distribute.

And she explained that if they didn't get any assistance they would have to conduct searches for the people and their next of kin. "This will incur costs and will eat away the money they could receive" Ms Will said.

"That is why I thought I would send a letter to all the people we were in communication with on the chance their relatives would be able to assist and thereby not incur further costs."

mary.magee@jpress.co.uk

Ulster Star
22/02/2008