Where there’s a will there’s a way to scam you

Problem-solving charity Citizens Advice is warning people to be wary of adverts and cold calls promising cut-price wills that turn out to be anything but.

The words of caution come during Scams Awareness Month, run by the Office of Fair Trading to alert people to common scams costing the British public a total of £3.5 billion a year.

Citizens Advice Bureaux are reporting increasing numbers of people who have been conned into parting with many hundreds of pounds by bogus will writers cashing in on people’s desire to make sure their financial affairs are settled according to their wishes after they die.

Some so-called will writers are advertising wills for around £24 in local papers and cold calling people by phone just to get a foot in the door so they can go in with a hard sell. Once through the front door, the true cost begins to add up to hundreds of pounds and people are often required to pay up there and then.

Once they have parted with their money, they may never receive the will they have been promised. Those that do may find it’s hardly worth the paper it’s written on and far from giving peace of mind, the experience may lead to sleepless nights.

Often the bogus will-writers exploit the elderly and people on low incomes who can’t afford to use a solicitor and have little experience of legal documents.

Cases seen recently by Citizens Advice Bureaux include the following:

A CAB in Lincolnshire reported a will writing scam. Unsolicited phone calls resulted in a home visit where payment of £498 was made to a firm that the clients have not been able to contact since the visit.

CAB clients from Devon felt conned having paid £429 for wills to replace those made 20 years earlier. They were persuaded to set up a trust they later found they did not need, and to make new wills which were promised in 28 days. The wills have never materialised and their requests for a refund have been ignored. The clients told the bureau they cannot face going to court.

CAB clients in Lincolnshire and receiving benefits responded to an advertisement offering wills for £23.50. The representative came to their home and charged them £705, which included storage. The clients feel they were taken for a ride and the as they still have the original will they seem to have paid for a service they have not been given.

Elderly CAB clients from Nottinghamshire responded to an offer of will writing for £20 plus VAT and, as they live in a rural area with no transport, opted for a home visit. Their joint assets are under £200,000 but the bill for the range of services they were sold came to £1,052.80. The salesman stayed a long time and left no documents and the couple only discovered what they had bought when the paperwork came in the post. The bureau commented that as they already had wills these could have been amended very cheaply to meet their requirements instead and that will writers should be regulated.

Citizens Advice consumer affairs policy officer Susan Marks said: " Making a will is an important way of ensuring loved ones are protected and your wishes are carried out when you die. It can also make it much easier for those you leave behind to sort out your affairs after your death. Will-writing services can be a useful alternative to solicitors - but will writing firms are not regulated by the Law Society so there are few safeguards if things go wrong, so you need to be satisfied that the service provided is up to scratch and meets your needs.

" Citizens Advice Bureaux around the country are seeing people who have been conned into parting with their cash by people advertising will-writing on the cheap. They have responded to clever marketing only to find the costs mount up and they may never get the will they are promised – or if they do, it may not properly express their wishes, or may not even be legally valid.

" We would advise people to explore all the options. Check with a few local solicitors to find out how much they charge. You may have access to legal advice through an addition to an insurance policy which might cover the costs of a solicitor preparing or checking a will. If you are a member of a trade union you may find that the union offers a free wills service to members.

"Finally, if you feel you have been conned, report the firm concerned to your local Trading Standards through Consumer Direct and get advice."