If Ryan Gregory turns up on your doorstep, chances are you’re about to inherit some money.
For more than two decades, Ryan has been working as an heir hunter, tracking down distant relatives from around the world and reuniting them with money they didn’t even know they were in line to inherit.
When someone dies without a will or an obvious next of kin, it is up to heir hunters to locate distant relatives or the money goes to the government and the King.
Now the international manager at Finders International, one of the bigger firms in the business, which was previously featured on the BBC’s Heir Hunters, Ryan began working for the company aged 18 when it was only a handful of people working out of a converted flat in South Kensington.
But business is booming in the world of unclaimed estates. The company now employs more than 150 people and the amount of money involved is getting bigger each year.
“When I started, it probably took five years to get a £1m estate. That was a big deal at the time, there would be a sense of gravitas to it,” he said.
“And now, as a company, we probably get million-pound-plus cases many times a week – I would imagine that is due to the vast increase in property prices.”
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He is working on a case in New York that is processing through probate. After spending several years tracking down a missing nephew, one heir is now $5m richer.
Image: Ryan Gregory
‘I inherited a windfall from a stranger’
When Allan Reay, 74, died alone in Gateshead in 2022, there was no next of kin to inherit his estate, worth £28,000. Finders International quickly established that Allan was an only child who had never married or had children of his own.
When a retired North Yorkshire teacher, now living in France, got a call to say she was in line to receive part of the inheritance, she assumed it was a scam.
Joan, 82, a distant cousin of Allan’s (her father and Allan’s mother were siblings) was sceptical at first, she said. “It’s not the type of phone call that I would expect – I was definitely suspicious.”
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But after her son confirmed Finders International was legitimate, she “inherited a windfall”.
“I wasn’t expecting it and I was utterly surprised. You just don’t expect something like that to happen to you. My husband and I plan to spend it on a holiday or maybe even a cruise,” she said.
Joan hadn’t seen Allan for many decades and was one of 10 beneficiaries who were tracked down. She remembered her distant cousin as chatty and amicable.
“I am quite startled at the entire process and how Finders tracked me down in France, along with several other relations of Allan’s from both sides of his family,” she said.
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Image: Joan Williams. Pic: Finders International
Lost siblings reunited
In 2023, two siblings who didn’t know the other existed were both handed £12,000 from a complete stranger.
Raymond and Brenda Ward received unexpected letters telling them they would inherit the estate of 90-year-old George Potter, who had died alone in a nursing home three years before with no obvious next of kin – and no recipient for his estate.
Finders International discovered that although George had no children, he did have an “illegitimate” half-brother, born 11 years before him, named Dennis Ward.
Raymond and Brenda were Dennis’s children, but from two separate relationships, which meant neither realised they had a half-sibling.
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The pair now write to each other regularly, enjoying the connection their uncle has brought them, as well as the inheritance.
How does an heir hunter track you down?
When a case comes across their desk, Ryan’s first step is to visit the deceased’s last known address.
“We speak to the neighbours, the person at the corner shop, the local pub. If they have a particular religion, is there a community centre near by?” he said.
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They then look to see if there are any marriage records or birth certificates that may help them find any children. The UK, he explained, has pretty extensive records, but other countries may not.
“We have to cast our net pretty wide and try and find out as much as possible – especially now we are living in an age where people have children outside of marriage.”
The target for closing a case is up to three months – they have even managed to find heirs before the funeral took place – but some are more complicated, and Ryan recently clocked out a case that was 10 years old.
They use all public sources at their disposal – from public records to the British Library and open social media accounts.
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When they do find someone, the reaction can be mixed.
“Sometimes there is a guilt from inheriting money from someone you didn’t know,” Ryan said.
How does the King get hold of your assets?
Half of Britons don’t have a will, according to research by Canada Life last year – and 41% of those who don’t have one aren’t worried about it.
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But if you die without one, and if there’s no clear next of kin, all your assets could be given to either the King or the government.
There are more than 6,000 unclaimed estates in England and Wales.
Claims must be made within 30 years of the death of the individual.
Due to a rule that dates from the Middle Ages, if a person in Cornwall dies without having made a will (also known as dying intestate), and with no surviving relatives, then the estate automatically goes to the Prince of Wales.
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A similar rule is in place in Lancaster for the Duchy of Lancaster – an estate owned by the King.
According to the most recent accounts, the duchy received £4.1m from intestate estates (before costs were taken out) in the year to September 2023.
But the duchy has previously denied that these unclaimed funds go into royal income, saying they are given to charities or used for environmental projects or to maintain properties on the estate.
For the rest of the country, if someone dies without a will and next of kin, it is passed over to the Treasury.
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Image: Pic: PA
How do heir hunters make money?
Just under 50% of the work Finders International does is pro bono, and for the rest, they work on a commission basis.
Sometimes the lawyer handling the deceased person’s estate “can authorise a fee”.
“But we normally do the research to find people, track them down, link them to the estate and then we ask them to sign a fee agreement,” Ryan said.
There are hundreds of amateur sleuths, hoping to capitalise on the prominence of TV shows like Heir Hunters.
So before you sign any paperwork (which may ask you to give away a chunk of any inheritance) do your research on the firm – is it legitimate?
Ryan said the first thing to do is check and see if you recognise the name the heir hunter is giving you.
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“If you’ve got a letter from overseas and someone is telling you that you’ve won an amount of money that is probably too good to be true and you don’t recognise the name, I say it is a real warning sign,” he said.
You can always consult the Bona Vacantia, the unclaimed estates list, to see if you know the person who died.
If it is a distant relative you haven’t met, you may be best employing the services of an heir hunter, but make sure you know exactly what you are signing up for.
Sextortion scams evolve with personalized tactics and heightened intimidation.
Threat actors exploit invoicing platforms to bypass email security filters.
Robust email filters and training help counter sextortion threats effectively.
Sextortion scams are becoming more complex and personal as the scams now frequently target individuals across different sectors with greater precision creating a sense of immediate threat.
Cofense Phish Defense Center (PDC) recently observed a notable evolution in sextortion scams, which unlike earlier versions, which relied primarily on generic scare tactics, now use more sophisticated strategies, often bypassing traditional security measures.
The campaigns now personalize emails, including personal details such as the target’s home address or phone number directly in the email body, in order to capture the recipient’s attention and adds a layer of credibility to the scam.
Exploitation of fear through technical jargon
These emails generally originate from random Gmail accounts, which are harder to trace, rather than the typical impersonated addresses seen in earlier scams.
In addition to personal information, scammers have escalated their approach by including images of the target’s supposed home, workplace, neighbourhood or street in attached PDF files.
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The email addresses the recipient by name and provides a specific location, followed by threats of a physical visit if the target fails to comply. This blend of personal details and digital intimidation is a shift from the simpler sextortion scams that used to rely solely on the fear of compromised online privacy.
The scam emails claim that the target’s device has been infected with spyware, often citing “Pegasus” as the malware responsible for the supposed breach. Threat actors use technical jargon to manipulate recipients with the hope that they have a limited understanding of cybersecurity. The emails claim that the attacker has been monitoring the victim for an extended period, gathering sensitive information, and even recording videos of them.
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In some cases, the scammer adopts a casual tone lacing the message with slang or compliments to make it seem as if they have been closely observing the target’s life. The message typically concludes with two choices: ignore the email and face public humiliation or pay a ransom in cryptocurrency to ensure the alleged compromising material is never released.
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A recurring part of these scams is the demand for payment in Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies. Scammers often provide a Bitcoin wallet address, sometimes alongside a QR code to facilitate the payment process.
Another notable shift in sextortion campaigns is the use of invoicing services to deliver phishing emails. These services allow threat actors to send emails that bypass certain security protocols by disguising the sender’s information. Since these invoicing platforms handle the email’s delivery, their legitimate headers and content often allow the message to avoid detection.
To combat these evolving scams, individuals and organizations must stay informed and vigilant. Educating users about the nature of sextortion scams and the tactics employed by attackers can reduce the likelihood of falling victim.
U.S. President Donald Trump has come through with an eagerly awaited executive order on crypto that directs his administration to establish friendly policies to put the industry on solid U.S. footing and work toward establishing a “digital asset stockpile.”
After years of courtroom combat with federal authorities, Trump’s order could allow the digital assets sector to move forward in the U.S. with a more welcoming framework set by the White House. Such orders are more of a beginning than an end in federal policy, but the pro-crypto president has taken that first step, Bloomberg reported Thursday.
When Trump had failed to issue it among his opening flurry of executive orders, crypto insiders grew increasingly tense about the new relationship he’s promised. But behind the scenes, leaders at the U.S. markets regulators — the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission — were already prepping this week to move digital assets businesses out of the multi-year penalty box the previous agency officials kept them in.
Bitcoin and large-cap crypto assets are caught in a state of uncertainty, as investors closely monitor both Donald Trump’s actions and the broader macroeconomic landscape.
While Bitcoin’s sustained trading above $100,000 is seen as a sign of strength, altcoins — particularly Ethereum — remain lackadaisical.
However, low-cap meme coins are showing little correlation with the broader market outlook and continue to create generational wealth. The Trump family coins — $TRUMP and $MELANIA — have driven the hype and FOMO to reach a fever pitch.
A new meme coin, Meme Index (MEMEX), has quickly established itself as a top cryptocurrency to buy right now. The project is building the first decentralized meme coin index fund, allowing investors to gain broader market exposure with just one coin.
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Meme Index — The Smart Way To Invest In Meme Coins
The market has been eagerly anticipating the launch of an index fund-like investment model for meme coins.
There are simply too many high-upside meme tokens to invest in, particularly for retail investors. Due to the broader market bearishness, interested buyers can find promising assets like Moo Deng, Peanut The Squirrel and NEIRO in highly undervalued territory.
Meanwhile, new meme coins continue to launch. Inspired by Offical Trump’s success, the CEO of Vine Rus Yusopov launched his own meme coin, which has a $224 million market capitalization in just a day. Vine is one of TikTok’s biggest competitors and is rumoured to integrate with X.
However, it is highly improbable that small-scale investors can even find an asset like $VINE in time. Moreover, they either go all-in on one asset or are spread too thin across many, owing to the budget constraint.
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Now, Meme Index’s meme coin baskets allow MEMEX holders to gain broader market exposure while spreading the risk. The project will soon launch 4 baskets, each with varying risk-reward ratios.
For instance, the Meme Titan Index is designed for safe players and features large-cap coins like Pepe and Dogecoin. On the contrary, the Meme Frenzy Index is designed for the degens and will include low-cap meme coins that could offer anywhere between 10x to 100x returns.
Meme Moonshot and Meme Midcap are the two other attractive options. Check out the project whitepaper for more of its salient features.
Noticeably, only MEMEX holders will be able to invest in the baskets. More importantly, they will get to vote on which tokens to be included in each basket. This would ensure every entry has strong community support and isn’t a scam.
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Moreover, small-scale investors will finally benefit from projects like VINE, MOBY and UFD before they explode.
Considering its high upside potential, it is no surprise the Meme Index presale has raised nearly $3 million in short order, with many viewing it as one of the top cryptos to buy now
The Top Crypto To Buy Right Now?
Donald and Melania Trump’s meme coin launches have paved the way for major players to join the space. Just today, Barstool President Dave Portnoy released a video mulling about launching his own meme coin.
Against such a backdrop, Meme Index’s investment model could prove to be a game-changer for whales and small-scale retailers alike.
Smart money investors are already impressed with the project’s uniqueness, innovation and community governance model, with many calling it the next 100x crypto.
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Despite its ambitious goals, MEMEX is highly undervalued and is still in the early stages of its presale. Interested buyers can invest in the meme coin today with just a few clicks and take a major step towards diversifying their portfolio.
Check out Meme Index’s X and Telegram accounts for the latest updates.
Disclaimer: This is a sponsored article and is for informational purposes only. It does not reflect the views of Crypto Daily, nor is it intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, or financial advice.
TerraPower, a nuclear energy startup founded by Bill Gates, struck a deal this week with one of the largest data center developers in the US to deploy advanced nuclear reactors. TerraPower and Sabey Data Centers (SDC) are working together on a plan to run existing and future facilities on nuclear energy from small reactors.
Tech companies are scrambling to determine where to get all the electricity they’ll need for energy-hungry AI data centers that are putting growing pressure on power grids. They’re increasingly turning to nuclear energy, including next-generation reactors that startups like TerraPower are developing.
“The energy sector is transforming at an unprecedented pace.”
“The energy sector is transforming at an unprecedented pace after decades of business as usual, and meaningful progress will require strategic collaboration across industries,” TerraPower President and CEO Chris Levesque said in a press release.
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A memorandum of understanding signed by the two companies establishes a “strategic collaboration” that’ll initially look into the potential for new nuclear power plants in Texas and the Rocky Mountain region that would power SDC’s data centers.
There’s still a long road ahead before that can become a reality. The technology TerraPower and similar nuclear energy startups are developing still have to make it through regulatory hurdles and prove that they can be commercially viable.
Compared to older, larger nuclear power plants, the next generation of reactors are supposed to be smaller and easier to site. Nuclear energy is seen as an alternative to fossil fuels that are causing climate change. But it still faces opposition from some advocates concerned about the impact of uranium mining and storing radioactive waste near communities.
“I’m a big believer that nuclear energy can help us solve the climate problem, which is very, very important. There are designs that, in terms of their safety or fuel use or how they handle waste, I think, minimize those problems,” Gates told The Verge last year.
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TerraPower’s reactor design for this collaboration, Natrium, is the only advanced technology of its kind with a construction permit application for a commercial reactor pending with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, according to the company. The company just broke ground on a demonstration project in Wyoming last year, and expects it to come online in 2030.
Microsoft made a deal in September to help restart a retired reactor at Three Mile Island. Both Google and Amazon, meanwhile, announced plans last year to support the development of advanced reactors to power their data centers.
BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said he’s “a huge believer in crypto” and urged the SEC to “rapidly approve” asset tokenization. Is this a net positive for the crypto sector?
Travelers walk through O’Hare International Airport in Chicago, Illinois, on December 20, 2024 ahead of the upcoming Christmas holiday.
Kamil Krzaczynski | AFP | Getty Images
Higher airfare is in store this year as strong demand, even during the dead of winter, and limited capacity growth prompt airlines to flex their pricing power.
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Fare-tracking platform Hopper this month said domestic “good deal” U.S. airfare in January is at $304, up 12% over last year, with more domestic flights going for more than they did last year through at least June.
Late deliveries of new aircraft from Boeing and Airbus, air traffic constraints and financial pressures have limited airlines’ ability to expand flights, which has pushed fares higher. Spirit Airlines, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in November, was the most dramatic case and has slashed its flights to cut costs.
American Airlines on Thursday forecast a jump in revenue of as much as 5% in the first quarter over the same three months of 2024, while capacity will be flat or even down as much as 2%.
“We do expect airfare to come up,” American CFO Devon May said in an interview. The airline forecast a wider-than-expected-loss for the first quarter, however, disappointing investors as it expects an increase in costs, like higher wages from new labor contracts signed last year.
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Startup carrier Breeze Airways on Thursday reported its first quarterly operating profit, for the fourth quarter, and founder David Neeleman, the founder of JetBlue Airways, said conservative industry growth is boding well for future results.
“The tide is lifting a lot of boats,” he said in an interview. “We’re exceeding our targets in revenue. Momentum we saw in the fourth quarter is continuing into the first.”
Read more CNBC airline news
Alaska Airlines late Wednesday said it expects revenue growth for the first quarter to rise by “high single digit” percentage points with capacity up no more than 3.5%.
“The domestic pricing environment is improving as underperforming airlines remove unprofitable capacity at an increasing rate and business traffic growth accelerates,” United’s chief commercial officer, Andrew Nocella, said on the company’s earnings call on Wednesday. “Industry fare sales are less prevalent with lower discount rates as airlines are prioritizing profitability.”
Delta Air Lines, which kicked off airline earnings season earlier this month, forecast revenue growth of 7% to 9% for the first quarter, with unit sales growing across its globe-spanning network.
Off-season travel, particularly to Europe, has been a big bright spot for large U.S. carriers. Delta’s president, Glen Hauenstein, for example, said on the Jan. 10 earnings call that trans-Atlantic unit revenue should be up mid-single digits with demand “benefiting from strong U.S. point of sale and an extension of the season with unprecedented off-peak results.”
JetBlue Airways and Southwest Airlines are scheduled to report fourth-quarter results and provide their 2025 outlooks next week. Both carriers are trying to ramp up revenue with more new premium seating and by debuting other amenities.
While Meta lures TikTok creators to Instagram and Facebook with cash bonuses, its X competitor Instagram Threads is now making things easier for creators, brands, and others who need more professional tools to manage their presence on the app. On Thursday, Instagram head Adam Mosseri announced a small handful of new features coming to Threads, including a way to schedule posts and view more metrics within Insights.
In a post on the social network, Mosseri shared that users would now be able to schedule posts on Threads and view the metrics for individual posts within the Insights dashboard which offers a way for Threads users to track trends including their views, number of followers and geographic demographics, number and type of interactions, and more, for a given time period.
In addition, he said that Threads is adding a new feature that allows users to “markup” a post they’re resharing so they include their own creative take. While Mosseri didn’t elaborate on what that means or share an example, earlier findings from tech enthusiast Chris Messina indicate that Threads will add a new icon next to the buttons for adding photos, GIFs, voice, hashtags, and more that provide access to this feature.
The squiggle icon, when clicked, takes users to a screen where they can choose between tools like a highlighter pen or arrow tool, that would allow them to draw directly on a Thread post. This feature was also spotted last week by Lindsey Gamble, who posted on Threads to show the feature in action.
It’s an odd sort of addition for Threads, given that users are more often sharing something clipped from the web, like a news article, where they’ve added a highlight or underline in a screenshot. There hasn’t been much consumer demand for a tool to mark up Threads’ posts directly.
However, the feature does offer Threads users something unique, when compared with social networking rivals like X, Bluesky, and Mastodon — and that could be the point.
Bitcoin and most altcoins have fallen this week even after Donald Trump’s inauguration to become the most crypto-friendly president in the US.
Bitcoin (BTC) price dropped to $101,000 on January 23rd, while popular meme coins like ai16z, Fartcoin, and Official Trump fell by over 20%. Other top laggards were coins like Lido DAO, Jupiter, Virtuals Protocol, and Hyperliquid.
There are four possible reasons for the ongoing crypto retreat. First, economists expect the Bank of Japan to hike interest rates by 0.25% on Friday. This would bring the official cash rate to 0.50%, the highest level since 2008.
The last BoJ rate hike occurred in August last year, leading to a sharp decline in cryptocurrencies and other assets. This was due to the unwinding of the Japanese yen carry trade. As such, another BoJ rate hike may trigger another drop, albeit at a smaller size.
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Second, in line with this, Bitcoin and altcoins fell as traders waited for next week’s Federal Reserve interest rate decision. A hawkish tone may also lead to more weakness in the crypto industry since it would push government bond yields higher.
Third, they have dropped because Donald Trump has not mentioned crypto since his inauguration. He has also not signed any executive order on cryptocurrency. This explains why the odds of him creating a strategic Bitcoin reserve have dropped to 40% on Polymarket.
The coins also dropped because of the popular practice of buying an asset ahead of a major event and then selling it when it occurs.
Bitcoin has also formed the risky double-top chart pattern at $108,100.This pattern is made up of two peaks and a neckline and is usually a bearish reversal sign. The neckline in this case is at $89,305. By measuring the distance between the double-top and the neckline, the potential target for the coin is about $74,000.
Therefore, Bitcoin will remain on edge as long as it is below that double-top pattern. This will, in turn, affect other altcoins that often move in the same direction as Bitcoin.
Moving above the double-top point at $108,100 will invalidate the bearish view and point to more gains, potentially to the psychological level at $110,000.
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