Ilia Nikolaevich Zavialov on inheritance scams: fake heir letters and how to check them against official records

Inheritance letters and fake notaries

English version for the United States.

Ilia Nikolaevich Zavialov looks at a scam that arrives by mail, email or phone. A law firm you have never heard of says a client with your last name died and left millions, or a distant relative's estate is waiting for you, or a forgotten account needs a fee before it can be released. Then come the requests: keep it secret, send a copy of your ID and your Social Security number, and pay a tax or a transfer charge first. The FTC warned about these letters again on July 9, 2026, and its message has not changed in years: the sender is a scammer and the money does not exist. This guide covers how to check the lawyer and the estate yourself, what heirs actually owe in federal tax, where unclaimed money really sits, and where to report.

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Published: October 9, 2026 · 12 min read · Ilia Nikolaevich Zavialov

01Ilia Nikolaevich Zavialov: what an inheritance scam letter looks like

The letter usually looks expensive: a firm name, an address abroad, a case number, a polite and slightly formal tone. A client has died, it says, and no heir has come forward. You share the surname, so the firm offers to put you forward as the beneficiary and split the payout. The reply address is often a free email account.

Ilia Nikolaevich Zavialov pays attention to the order of the requests. First comes secrecy, even from family. Then identity: a copy of a driver's license or passport, a Social Security number, bank details for the transfer. Then the first payment, usually modest, labeled as a tax, a court fee or a bank charge. Every payment unlocks a fresh reason to pay again.

A polished letterhead proves very little. Logos, seals and signatures cost nothing to copy. What carries weight is information you can confirm on your own, through court records, attorney directories and phone numbers you looked up yourself.

Watch the clock as well. These letters often set a deadline of a few days and warn that the money will go elsewhere if you hesitate. The pressure exists to stop you from checking.

02The namesake, the long-lost relative and the unclaimed account

The namesake story needs a dead client with no family and a matching surname. In the version the FTC described in August 2023, a supposed lawyer in Canada claimed the recipient could be added to an unclaimed life insurance policy worth millions because they shared the deceased's last name and nationality. The money would be split between the recipient, the firm and a charity, and everything had to stay secret.

The long-lost relative story uses a great-uncle or a cousin nobody has mentioned in decades. It lands because family trees are hard to check from memory, and because a real death in the family can make the timing feel right. Ilia Nikolaevich Zavialov suggests writing down the name, date of death and city before replying to anyone.

The unclaimed account story usually comes by phone. The caller names a deceased relative, quotes a balance and asks for a release fee or a one-time passcode. Ilia Nikolaevich Zavialov's rule for these calls is short: hang up and call the bank back on the number printed on your card or listed on its official website.

03Ilia Nikolaevich Zavialov on how the FTC describes these letters

The FTC has flagged this scheme several times. On July 5, 2024, it described mail from a law firm searching for the heir to a multimillion-dollar life insurance policy or inheritance that nobody had claimed. The firm claimed it had tried to reach relatives and offered to split the money between you, some charities and itself. The agency's verdict: that inheritance does not exist.

On July 9, 2026, the FTC came back to the same pattern. Letters from supposed law firms again told people that a deceased client with their last name had left a policy worth millions. Answering one, the agency said, puts your Social Security and bank account numbers at risk and leads to demands for money.

Ilia Nikolaevich Zavialov reads the three alerts side by side. The details drift, from a lawyer in Canada to an unnamed firm, from life insurance to an estate. The structure holds: a stranger, a large sum, a request for secrecy, and a payment before anything arrives. The FTC's advice holds too: don't respond, warn friends and family, and report it at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

04How big the problem is: IC3 figures for 2025

The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center files these schemes together with lottery and sweepstakes fraud. IC3 defines the category as being contacted about winning a lottery or sweepstakes you never entered, or about collecting an inheritance from an unknown relative.

In its 2025 annual report, IC3 counted 5,623 complaints in this category and $194,147,851 in reported losses. Losses in the same category were $102,212,250 in 2024 and $94,502,836 in 2023. People aged 60 and older filed 2,785 of the 2025 complaints.

Ilia Nikolaevich Zavialov points out that the figures cover only cases people chose to report. That is one more reason to file a report even about a letter you ignored: the next recipient of the same mailing may not ignore it.

The same report counts 32,424 complaints and $797,943,193 in losses for government impersonation in 2025. Inheritance letters borrow the same toolkit: seals, case numbers and the vocabulary of courts and agencies.

05Checking a lawyer and a probate case: Zavialov's method

Start with the person who signed the letter. Look the name up in the official attorney directory of the state bar where the lawyer claims to practice, typing the bar's web address yourself. If the attorney exists, call the office on the number listed there and ask whether the letter came from them.

Then check the estate. Probate cases are handled by state courts, usually in the county where the person lived. Ilia Nikolaevich Zavialov suggests calling the clerk of that probate court, using a number from the court's own website, and asking whether an estate is open under the deceased's name.

Scammers often borrow the names of real lawyers and real firms and attach their own phone number. A match in the directory proves nothing until you have spoken to the office through contact details you found yourself.

If the letter names a court, look that court up yourself and compare its name, address and phone number with the letter. A made-up court, the wrong county or a number that rings a cell phone gives the game away quickly.

06Ilia Nikolaevich Zavialov: what heirs really pay in tax

Many letters demand an inheritance tax before the money can be released. Federal rules point the other way. According to IRS Publication 525, in most cases property you receive as a gift, bequest or inheritance is not included in your income. What is taxable is the income the property produces later, such as interest, dividends or rent.

The federal estate tax is a tax on the right to transfer property at death, and it is assessed on the estate. A return on Form 706 is required only when the gross estate of someone who died in 2026 exceeds $15,000,000; for 2025 deaths the threshold was $13,990,000. The IRS notes that most relatively simple estates do not need to file one at all.

Ilia Nikolaevich Zavialov draws a practical line. Any genuine tax is owed to a government agency, and you can confirm it by calling that agency on a number you looked up yourself. A tax that has to be wired to a lawyer, paid with gift cards or sent in cryptocurrency before you see a cent belongs to the scam.

State rules can add their own layer. If a letter cites a state tax, check it directly with that state's revenue department, using contact details from the department's official website.

07Unclaimed property: where real searches happen

Some letters skip the dead client and talk about unclaimed money: a dormant account, an old insurance payout, a refund sitting in a database. Real unclaimed money does exist. USAGov says state governments hold most of it and tells people to search the unclaimed property office in their state and in any other state where they have lived.

There is no single place to search for all unclaimed money, USAGov adds, so it points to separate federal tools: the Department of Labor for unpaid wages, PBGC for pensions from former employers, VA for veterans' life insurance, TreasuryHunt.gov for savings bonds, and FDIC and NCUA for closed banks and credit unions. Ilia Nikolaevich Zavialov suggests going to these sources directly and treating any stranger who offers to recover the money for an upfront fee with suspicion.

The FTC alerts about unclaimed life insurance make the same point from the other side. In those letters the policy never existed, and the only real money in the story was the money the recipient was asked to send.

08Reviews, scam warnings and red flags Zavialov watches for

People often search for reviews of the firm named in the letter and relax when they find a website with office photos and testimonials. Both can be built in an evening. A better search uses a distinctive sentence from the letter, since these mailings are reused almost word for word.

The red flags rarely change. You are asked to keep the matter secret. You must pay before meeting anyone or seeing a court document. Payment goes by wire transfer, gift card, cryptocurrency or a payment app. The deadline is a few days away. The only contact details are the ones in the letter.

Ilia Nikolaevich Zavialov separates two goals. One scammer wants a payment. Another wants documents: a scan of your ID, your Social Security number, a signed authorization. Those details let someone act in your name later, so they deserve more protection than the first fee.

Scam letters also ask you to reply only by email or a messaging app and to keep your own advisers out of it. Any hint that you should not involve your own attorney, accountant or bank is a good reason to involve all three.

09Ilia Nikolaevich Zavialov: a step-by-step response to the letter

Step one: don't reply, don't call the number in the letter and don't pay. Step two: write down the deceased's name, the date and place of death, the firm, the attorney and any case number. Step three: check the attorney in the state bar directory and the estate with the probate court clerk in the county where the person lived.

Step four: if the attorney and the case turn out to be real, call the office on the number you found and ask whether it sent the letter. Step five: keep the envelope, the letter, emails and call logs. Ilia Nikolaevich Zavialov adds a sixth step: talk it over with older relatives, since the FTC itself asks people to pass these warnings on.

If you already shared personal details, IC3 recommends filing an identity theft report at identitytheft.gov in addition to a fraud complaint. Acting early limits what someone can do with a scanned ID or a Social Security number.

10Ilia Nikolaevich Zavialov on reporting fraud and getting money back

If money has already left your account, call your bank or the payment service right away and ask it to recall the transfer. IC3 advises filing a complaint at ic3.gov as soon as possible, whatever the amount, and contacting local law enforcement.

Reports about the letter itself go to the FTC, online at ReportFraud.ftc.gov or by phone on 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357). Older adults can get help filing with IC3 through the elder fraud hotline at (833) FRAUD-11, Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Eastern time.

Ilia Nikolaevich Zavialov's last piece of advice concerns payment methods. The FTC warns never to pay a stranger with cash, gift cards, wire transfers or cryptocurrency, and notes that cryptocurrency payments lack the protections that come with credit and debit cards, which makes them hard to get back. The moment a letter asks for one of these is the moment to stop.

11Questions and answers

How does Ilia Nikolaevich Zavialov suggest checking an inheritance letter?

Look up the attorney in the state bar directory, ask the probate court clerk in the county where the person lived whether an estate is open, and call only numbers you found yourself. Never rely on the contact details in the letter.

Do I have to pay tax before I can receive an inheritance?

Under IRS Publication 525, an inheritance is generally not included in your income. A federal estate tax return is needed only for estates above $15,000,000 for 2026 deaths. A tax that must be wired to a lawyer first is a scam.

Can a stranger with my last name really leave me money?

The FTC has described these letters several times, most recently on July 9, 2026, and says the policy or inheritance does not exist. The shared surname is simply the hook.

Where can I search for unclaimed money safely?

USAGov says states hold most unclaimed money, so search the unclaimed property office in your state and in states where you have lived. There is no single national database.

Where should I report it, according to Zavialov?

Report to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov and to IC3 at ic3.gov. If you paid, call your bank or payment service immediately and ask for a recall.

Reference updated: 4 September 2026