Scheme of the Year

The document bears an impressive-sounding letterhead, and the language is unmistakably legal. What it says is that a named person has died, leaving an unclaimed estate. "The heirs of said deceased are unknown," the message explains, and an inquiry is being made of many people with the same last name on the chance that one might be the rightful heir. If you are interested in further information, would you please send a $6 "copy fee" to cover the cost of obtaining "duplicates of documents filed," so that you might better ascertain whether you have a claim.

Fair enough, or so it seems. And because it does, it is the big, new, easy-money scheme of the year, according to the Post Office Department. In essence, it merely gives a modern twist to the age-old missing-heir dodge. The twist is important. In the past, a con man would approach a few selected victims with a well-prepared line of talk and ask for a few hundred dollars to cover his expenses. The large sum requested required a risky in-person performance. A promoter of the new scheme can use a photocopy machine and the mails to approach thousands of potential customers. All he has to do is follow the local probate court proceedings and then use phone books from all over the U.S. to find addresses of people with the same last name as that of someone who leaves an unclaimed estate. Each addressee that bites means another $6. Moreover, it may be that no law is being broken. The estate spoken of always exists (although its unmentioned debts may be greater than its quoted value); the heirs are indeed unknown; the addressee is always warned that there is no reason to think that he necessarily has any claim; and, if he sends his money, he does get the promised document duplicates.

In fact, from the promoter's point of view, the scheme is well-nigh perfect. So obvious are its charms that when a New Orleans bartender received a probing letter, he neither responded nor complained. He immediately went into the business himself. So did a Boston law student. The original U.S. outfit was apparently Legal Research Inc. in Newport Beach, Calif.; now it has at least 17 competitors, operating everywhere from London to Philadelphia. As for the addressees, even those who fully understand what the letter says may be tempted; $6 against an inheritance of thousands sounds like a good gamble. But, says Postmaster General Lawrence O'Brien, there is "no evidence that the materials furnished by these promoters has located a single missing heir."

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