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contacted by a research company do i accept?

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Karen

Karen Report 4 Nov 2007 13:51

a person contacted me with info on my family tree he gave me a few names then wants me to contact him direct with my email address is this safe and will he charge me?is it a scam he`s in new zealand.all help gratfully recieved many thanks,karen jones

Heather

Heather Report 4 Nov 2007 14:08

I should imagine its fine Karen. People like to use their email as its much more flexible than using this system.

If you have the names you want to know about then his tree should be on here for you to check out.

How can he charge you? What for?

JUST a second, just read the heading "A research company" What on earth is that about. How did he contact you? No, thats a different matter - not sure I like that at all. How did he contact you - through this site?

Heather

Heather Report 4 Nov 2007 14:17

I was contacted last year by a "genaelogist" who asked me if OH was the descendant of a number of people. I thought this was dead iffy - he said hed found my tree on line and that OH was due a share of an inheritance. I told him to write to me. I expected it was a scam. Later that day I had another call from another genealogist with the same queries. Both said they wanted 20% of any monies claimed.

I then looked at my tree and worked out who it was likely to have died intestate, unmarried - Got a list of likely people, went to Bona Vacantia which is the Treasury office which handles deceaseds estates where there are no obvious heirs and no will.

Went through the people on my list and yep, found one listed there - a cousin of my OH who he hadnt seen for 30 years. I then handled it from there myself - you have to produce a tree showing lineage and back it up with everyones certs.

We all stillwaiting for the inheritance to come through - LOL - but I am in constant touch with the solicitor handling it. The genealogists apparently used quite a lot of my info online to trace the others which Im a bit miffed about, but then I shant be paying their 20% commission.

What I am rambling on about - is this the sort of phone call you received or what did he actually offer to you? Sounds dodgey.