Leo received a letter that claimed to be from a lawyer in Portugal. The letter seemed professional with a fancy letterhead and used legal jargon to explain a very interesting proposal. The letter offered Leo a share in a large inheritance that was left behind by the lawyer’s late client.

This client apparently had no immediate family in Portugal and couldn't find a legitimate relative of the deceased in Europe. The lawyer devised a scheme in which he would claim that Leo is a distant relative and entitled to fortune since he shared a unique surname with his late client. In this way, Leo and the lawyer could split the inheritance between them. Leo knew his surname was uncommon and the letter seemed to come from Portugal since the envelope had a Portuguese stamp on it.

Hoping he had come across a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, Leo contacted the lawyer to find out more and was soon convinced the scheme could work. The lawyer explained that in order to get the ball rolling, Leo would need to pay a few fees and taxes.

Leo pagó las cuotas, pero luego se solicitaron más pagos. Parecían llegar uno tras otro, pero cada vez se le aseguraba que estaba más y más cerca de recibir su parte de millones de euros. Cada vez que pagaba una tasa, el abogado descubría que alguna política bancaria o una peculiaridad de las leyes locales exigía el pago de otra tasa. A cada paso del camino, el abogado afirmaba que estaba poniendo su parte justa para pagar estos impuestos y que había invertido mucho de su propio dinero.

After spending over $30,000, it became clear the requests for money and the excuses for not yet receiving his share of the inheritance were not going to end. Leo lost all his savings trying to gain an inheritance that never existed.