Question regarding unknown family member's estate

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Pennsylvania

My father received a strange series of phone calls today, stating that a cousin of one of his parents died a few weeks ago.. Supposedly he was very well-to-do attorney, but didn't leave a will of any sort. The man that called said he was from the state, and gave my father a lot of information about his family, yet my father didn't give any information about ours. This person also said that because this relative didn't have any immediate family members alive, my father and his siblings and their children are all considered next of kin and are entitled to a part of his estate. All this leaves a few questions:

-Would a person 'from the state' call to give that kind of information?
-Is this a known scam, if in fact it is one?
-If this is not a scam, wouldn't other family members have been called?
-If this is not a scam, how would family members go about claiming a piece of the estate?

Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance!

A rose by any other name is still a rose. And a scam is scam not matter how it is spelled, known or unknown! Plus they are both identifiable by odor!

So if you people can’t figure out that your father has been targeted as a potential victim without the need of going to the World Wide Web, pray for blessings.

I don't see there being any need for either insults or sarcasm. I came here more or less looking for advise about a situation, nothing more or less. Besides, we both have a hunch it's a scam, but frankly we are not sure. Neither him nor I have ever been in a situation like this, and nobody else we know has either. There are a lot of factors that make it look like a scam definitely, but again, we simply don't know.

So, did your father obtain the name, title, and department/agency of the man who called?

And the name of the distant relative? And where the distant relative lived?

And it is certainly easy enough to figure out whether a cousin really did die or not.

From what I was told (I wasn't there when the conversation took place), my father didn't ask for any credentials, though the man did offer them and strangely, my father declined, apparently thinking everything was legitimate or something.

As for the relative, my father did know of him (name, profession, etc.), but didn't know him personally. This relative did live in the same area as my father and the rest of his family while he was growing up, but this relative nor the rest of the family were on speaking terms for some reason.

What makes this all the more stranger is that my father is in a nursing home that's ran by the Veteran's Administration, and other than a few select people, nobody else knows where he's at. We asked the people that know he's in the nursing home if they received any contact from this person and they said no. In fact, his listed address and phone number are for another location, and as far as I know, the VA nursing home cannot confirm nor deny that someone is living there. So if this was a scam (which honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if it was), wouldn't they call the phone number listed in the public records?

Kiawah said:

And it is certainly easy enough to figure out whether a cousin really did die or not.

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This family member is indeed dead; he died a few weeks ago. I confirmed it through multiple sources.

Then, if the person calls back, ask your father to get that information so you can check it out. And, of course, tell your father not give out any sensitive personal information.

I don't know of any state in which state employees spend time putting together family trees and contacting distant relatives.

If you want to see just what it would take for your line of the family to stand to inherit under PA intestacy, you can check out the calculator at this website:

http://www.mystatewill.com/states/PA/PAintcalc.htm

This family member is indeed dead; he died a few weeks ago. I confirmed it through multiple sources.

Click to expand...

Well it sure started out as a classic scam, but the extra details you provided means there is a small chance that this may be ligitimate.

Of course, it will be proven to be a scam if they start asking for
* Bank account information
* credit card numbers
* up front payment for taxes, customs, lawyers fees, etc.

Since your father is hospitalized, he should direct them to contact you instead. Just having a skeptical relative on the phone may be enough to scare off a would be scammer.