Woman who inherited £180,000 was convinced she was being scammed

We've all had those 'pinch me' moments, haven't we?

You know when something amazing happens to you and you sit there thinking 'Surely not. What's the catch?'

Nothing in life comes for free, as they say.

One woman had this experience to an extreme degree when she was told she was due a big inheritance.

In fact, Dr Anna Phillips, 65, was convinced that the eye watering £180,000 up for grabs was part of a scam given it was coming from a man she didn't even know existed.

Are you feeling as confused as she was?

Backstory time.

Finders International

George Anderson died in July 2019 at the age of 81 without a will and no next of kin.

Danny Curran, of Finders International - the UK's largest professional probate genealogy firm - and star of BBC's Heir Hunters series, was asked to find his nearest relatives.

And that's how he found Dr Phillips.

She was one of 26 beneficiaries found around the world, in a search that took the researchers to Australia, Malta and Canada.

It was in Kyrgyzstan that Dr Phillips was found, where she was teaching art at an international school.

She told the Liverpool Echo: "I received a letter from Finders International about George Anderson. I immediately thought it was a scam.

"I had never heard of him in my life. Then a bit later, while walking home from a day's teaching, I got a phone call.

"It was just surreal to hear that I was related to this man that I never knew and had been tracked down as a beneficiary to his estate. It was totally unbelievable."

I'll say.

So, how was she related to the deceased?

Anderson, born in Everton in 1938, was the son of Elizabeth Phillips and George Anderson who wed in 1937.

His father died in 1969, and his mother died in 1998.

Anderson's mother was one of ten children, four of whom died as infants.

One of her brothers, Thomas Phillips, is Dr Phillips' grandfather. So Anderson's mother and Dr Phillips' grandfather were siblings.

ITV

Dr Phillips said: "It is such a shame that I never knew him or that we never met. I now understand how I'm related to him but would never have figured it out myself.

"The whole process has helped put us back in touch with an extended family, and the opportunity to have a fully mapped out family tree is really something special.

"While the inheritance is not life changing, it was of course a nice surprise. We paid some into our mortgage in Tasmania, and then gave some to our children.

"It's all about helping the next generation and has helped them in that regard. This inheritance is also assisting us in the next phase of my husband Robert's and my life, we intend to continue being creative, making art and music, when we retire and continue our travels."