By LESLIE EIKLEBERRY
Salina Post
An elderly Saline County man received a letter stating that he could be the beneficiary of a multi-million dollar life insurance policy, but he didn't fall for the scam. Instead, he reported it to the Saline County Sheriff's Office.
The letter was allegedly from an Ontario, Canada, law firm: Charles & Associates. Saline County Sheriff's Captain Jim Hughes said the 80-year-old man was instructed to contact the firm at a Gmail address for more information about his alleged inheritance.
The letter, a copy of which was provided by the sheriff's office, claims that a client of the firm died of COVID-19 approximately two years ago, and no relatives have come forward to claim an insurance policy worth $11,550,300. If the policy is not claimed in two to three years, it will have to be turned over to "the abandoned property division."
The letter goes on to ask the man to join the letter writer in a partnership to claim the policy "in view of the striking similarity in same last name and nationality with the deceased. If you permit me to add your name to the policy, all proceeds will be processed on your behalf."
The letter then states that the letter writer wants 10 percent of the proceeds from the insurance policy to go to charities, with the remaining 90 percent shared between the Saline County man and the letter writer.
Hughes said a sheriff's office employee called the phone number in the heading of the letter and talked to a person with a heavy foreign accent who, of course, would not provide any information about the operation.
Similar letters, some with differing law firm names and contact persons, have been arriving in mailboxes across the state in recent days.