Moped Army

In hindsight, the profile looked too good: Beverly Hills, fantastic rare bikes with no model year accompanying them, etc. Who in Beverly Hills would have mopeds?
I checked the obituary listings on Rootsweb and there has never been an obit published for any Jasper Ryan anywhere.
Ask the 'brother-in-law' for the name of the lawyer, the name of the firm, its location and phone number. You would have to make a direct claim anyway, not just have the bro pass it along. And don't just call a number that he gives you. Check out whether the firm and person exist and then call the firm's main number. You'll know soon enough.
And yes, it would help to know when the person first 'joined' the forum. That might help eliminate a lot of scamming.