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Recently, my father responded to an unsolicited letter he received from a firm of solicitors called R.A. Wilkinson & Co - based in Birkenhead.
They claim that when he bought his bungalow 5 years ago that he should not have paid stamp duty on the purchase as his property was exempt from that under the law of the time. They offer to help him claim back that stamp duty.
When he responded, they sent another letter asking him for all kinds of personal details to enable them to do their work. They asked for passport number, national insurance no., council tax details, driving license details etc etc ... the list simply goes on and on. I cannot for the life of me understand why should need all such very personal details.
However, my father - being a retired Police Officer - naturally has alarm bells ringing in his head as to why they need all of this very personal information from him. Foremost in his mind is whether this firm are legitimate as the information they require of him could easily be used in Identity fraud.
Consequently, he has asked me to do a bit of research into this firm to find out more about them. I have been to their website (R. A. Wilkinson Co. Solicitors), and all 'appears' to check out. They even state their SRA number as 60418, so one can presume they are properly licensed as solicitors.
However, I am well aware that many scams out there are quite well prepared and that a web page does not constitute a reputable firm.
I have googled this firm to try and find more information about them but nothing untoward has come back.
So I would like to ask if anybody else on the site has heard of these people or, more to the point, had dealings with them to be able to tell me if they are a genuine and reputable company.
Lastly, I thought firms of solicitors were forbidden from sending unsolicited mail in this way so are these people committing an offence ?
I have told my father that in no way should he respond to these people with the information they want for the time being unless he intends to ask them why they require such personal information, until I have more information on who they are / are they legitimate.
Any thoughts from anybody who has dealt with this firm of solicitors would be most appreciated.
Cheers
They claim that when he bought his bungalow 5 years ago that he should not have paid stamp duty on the purchase as his property was exempt from that under the law of the time. They offer to help him claim back that stamp duty.
When he responded, they sent another letter asking him for all kinds of personal details to enable them to do their work. They asked for passport number, national insurance no., council tax details, driving license details etc etc ... the list simply goes on and on. I cannot for the life of me understand why should need all such very personal details.
However, my father - being a retired Police Officer - naturally has alarm bells ringing in his head as to why they need all of this very personal information from him. Foremost in his mind is whether this firm are legitimate as the information they require of him could easily be used in Identity fraud.
Consequently, he has asked me to do a bit of research into this firm to find out more about them. I have been to their website (R. A. Wilkinson Co. Solicitors), and all 'appears' to check out. They even state their SRA number as 60418, so one can presume they are properly licensed as solicitors.
However, I am well aware that many scams out there are quite well prepared and that a web page does not constitute a reputable firm.
I have googled this firm to try and find more information about them but nothing untoward has come back.
So I would like to ask if anybody else on the site has heard of these people or, more to the point, had dealings with them to be able to tell me if they are a genuine and reputable company.
Lastly, I thought firms of solicitors were forbidden from sending unsolicited mail in this way so are these people committing an offence ?
I have told my father that in no way should he respond to these people with the information they want for the time being unless he intends to ask them why they require such personal information, until I have more information on who they are / are they legitimate.
Any thoughts from anybody who has dealt with this firm of solicitors would be most appreciated.
Cheers
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