English
Cheated by Escheat?
By the way, here’s something people should know about if they have bank accounts in the US. What happened to me is that I had some money in a US checking account that I hadn’t used for a few years. They blocked the account and called it dormant. I was recently contacted by a treasure hunter saying, “You may have some uncollected funds the US. Hire us, and we’ll see that you get it before the government does.” What they’re referring to is a law called “escheat,” which means that funds whose owner can’t be found revert to the state government after a period of time. When I called, they asked me for my secret code, which I had forgotten by that time. I almost had to fly back to California (where the account was) and show them my ID to get my money back. Luckily, I finally remembered my code, and they’re sending me a check now. So, people should be sure they deposit something, or have someone in the US do it on their behalf such as every year on their birthday deposit $5 to avoid the account going dormant and their funds being taken by the state. The average time for an account to be deemed dormant and revert to the state is 5 years but some states are getting greedy and shortening that time.
People living outside the US should check their states unclaimed funds web site to see if they have any funds that are owed to them that were sent to the state for utility bill refunds, rebates, insurance refunds, dividend or interest payments or bank accounts for example. Even if you still live in the US you may find funds owed to you that you can claim so search states where you have previously or currently live. The laws vary by states, some let you claim the funds electronically and others require regular paperwork.
Here are the two web sites to search (many states have online search sites).
California
https://ucpi.sco.ca.gov/UCP/Default.aspx
And Texas
https://mycpa.cpa.state.tx.us/up/Search.jsp
