Members of Mower County law enforcement are warning citizens about a mail scam after a rural Mower County man received a letter claiming to represent a deceased relative.

According to Mower County Sheriff Steve Sandvik, the letter claimed to be from a Swiss accounting firm of an offshore financial institution in Zurich, Switzerland. The letter stated the institution had gone through files from a deceased client and found the intended victim was listed as a beneficiary. The intended victim was instructed to use an online link to provide personal information to collect the benefits.

The letter was mailed from Canada with the claim the mailer was in Canada for an official meeting when the letter was sent. The fraudulent client’s last name matched that of the intended victim, while the first name was a common name, Sandvik said.

The intended victim did not provide any information on the link.

Sandvik warned that financial institutions do not conduct business in this manner and that going to the provided link could give scammers access to a computer IP address, meaning they could access personal data even if the intended victim does not provide that information.

He advised, should anyone receive a similar letter, to contact law enforcement or the post office or to simply discard the letter without accessing the provided link.