Inheritance Scam

 

If you have been contacted regarding inheritance claims by anyone pretending to be a lawyer / solicitor / barrister / attorney at LAUX LAWYERS AG, you can safely discard and ignore this message.

This is a scam, intended to gain money from victims.

Lawyers will never disclose privileged information (like the subject matter, amount of the inheritance etc.) before having verified your identity and involvement. LAUX LAWYERS AG and its lawyers specialise in IT Law and do not engage in inheritance matters.

 

Other known aspects of past scam waves

In the past, the identities of the following companies and persons were used or faked in connection with the inheritance scam:

  • Zürcher Kantonalbank (Zurich Cantonal Bank) und Mr. Walter Seif
  • Mr. Oliver Delgado / Oliver Delgado Solicitors
  • Barrister Patrae Andell

 

How to spot a fraudulent email

In most cases, fraudulent emails can easily be identified:

  • Does the sender’s address correspond to the company it claims to be from?
    a genuine sender’s address should be from the official domain (e.g., name.surname@lauxlawyers.ch). Law firms and banks will never use free services like gmail, hotmail etc.!
    (Be aware that some scammers may also use domains that look very similar (i.e. replacing a lower case “L” (l) with a upper case “i” (I) , replacing “w” with “vv”, using other endings instead of “.ch”).
  • Is the contact information in the email correct?
    Some emails contain contact information. Make sure to compare the provided telephone numbers with publicly available information. LAUX LAWYERS AG will never use numbers other than +41 44 880 24 24 or +41 61 283 06 06.
  • Is the content/story plausible?
    Are they using your correct name? Is it plausible that you have relatives in Switzerland? Does the text contain spelling errors or strange spacing/punctuation? Is it plausible that the alleged sender would engage in inheritance matters?

What to do

If the email you’ve received is a scam, you can safely discard it.

Additionally, we appreciate receiving a copy of the email (please send it to info@lauxlawyers.ch) in order to take reasonable steps to mitigate further scam attacks carried out in the name of our lawyers.

Further information can be found on the Inheritance Scams Information site by the Australian Competition & Consumer Agency
and especially for for people in the US: The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center(IC3)