Ndtyhij

Someone contacted me and said that someone with a similar last name died and left me a large amount of money. He gave me information and forms from a bank, and other pertinent information.

I then got a message that there is fee and that I need to send it before any money could be released to me. I checked and his office really exists but I think he just trying to pull a fast one.

What should I do?

If I had $100,000 that I want to give to you for some legitimate reason, and there was say a $500 fee, then I wouldn't ask you for $500 and pay you $100,000 but I would ask you if it is Ok to take the $500 out of the $100,000, and if you agree, I'd pay you $99,500 without any cost for you.

Someone who wants to give you money doesn't ask for fees, they just deduct any cost from the money they give you. Same for lotteries, inheritances, tax returns, forgotten bank accounts and so on.

This is a scam.

If it were a legitimate case of them recovering money for you for a percentage, then they would be working it in a different direction. Asking for a "fee" puts this very much in suspicious scam territory.

Look up the supposed bank online (do NOT use whatever links or contact information were sent to you), contact them, and ask if the person you're talking to is working with/for them. Tell them you're working probate for your uncle, and ask them to confirm information based on what you've been sent. They won't be able to release much, but they should be able to tell you if you're being scammed or not.

If someone left you a large amount of money, they would not simply send you an email saying "Send me a fee and I'll send it to you." Any large sum of money would have a lot of bureaucracy attached. If they were smart, there would be a trust or some other body in place and any contact they had with you would probably be through lawyers. If they were not as smart, they would have left it in a will and you would still have lawyers contacting you, possibly with IRS or other government officials backing them up and wanting a piece of the pie in the form of taxes. They would not simply ask you to pay a fee and then wire you a bunch of money. Most governments won't let someone just hand off a "large amount of money." If there's no red tape, it's probably not official.