A retired Austin police detective and private investigator says a suspicious inheritance letter that appeared to come from a Prince Albert law firm was likely part of a scam aimed at collecting personal information from U.S. recipients.
Paul Brick, who spent 28 years with the Austin Police Department and later worked in private investigations, contacted the Daily Herald after receiving a mailed letter claiming he could be entitled to part of a deceased woman’s estate. The letter suggested he may be connected by surname to a woman identified as Maria Brick and said millions of dollars could be released if he cooperated.
For Brick, the warning signs appeared quickly.
“So for me, as somebody that did investigate identity theft way back even before the internet, anytime you see a lot of flowery language, a lot more words than are necessary to (make) a simple statement, you start getting suspicious,” he said.
Brick said his suspicions deepened when he examined the details more closely. He said the letter used the name of a real Prince Albert law firm, but the supposed website tied to the matter appeared to have been created only days before he received the correspondence.
“The website had been created about four days before I received the email,” he said. “(It’s) a law firm in your town that’s been in business 20, 30 years, as far as I can tell. They don’t even have an actual website, so then that obviously increased my suspicions a lot more.”
The letter was followed by emails and a so-called KYC form requesting personal details such as nationality, address, occupation, marital status, and phone number. Brick said that, in his view, revealed the likely purpose of the scheme.
“I think it’s more of a hunt for data with a zero promise of paying me anything, and they’re going to victimize me if I give them more information,” he said.
Brick said he also spoke with the real law office, which did not want to be interviewed for this story. The Daily Herald was told suspicious websites connected to the matter had been taken down and that the scam appeared to be targeting people in the United States.
Prince Albert Police Service did not respond to a request for comment.
Brick said he found the Daily Herald while searching for Prince Albert news after trying unsuccessfully to get information through police channels. In a coincidence, the paper had recently reported on a local seniors scam awareness event in Prince Albert, where speakers warned about internet threats and identity theft. Brick said seeing that coverage is what led him to contact the Herald.
Brick added that one of the lessons from businesses is that unusual calls from confused or unhappy strangers should not be ignored, because they may be an early sign that a company’s name is being used by scammers.
“I think that would be the biggest thing is for the victim companies to realize that their name is being used to defraud innocent victims,” he said.
He said the inheritance story itself was never the real point. The promise of a huge payout was simply bait meant to lower a target’s guard and encourage them to hand over information that could later be used for identity theft or other fraud.
“The most important words are common sense and good judgment,” Brick said. “If you get a letter that says you could be connected to somebody that might have left $10 million, your very first instinct should be, ‘Oh, no, that’s not true.'”
He said people should not dismiss such letters as harmless junk mail, because they are sent with a purpose and may be part of a broader attempt to gather personal information. Rather than responding, he said, recipients should use common sense, avoid sharing private details, and treat the letter as a warning sign.
arjun.pillai@paherald.sk.ca
