Scam or not? Help!

[SilverSleeper]

A week ago, I got a message on my voicemail, and it was from an asset recovery company.
Today, I got a letter in the mail from them.
They are trying to tell me, that I have unclaimed funds, and they will recover them for a % of the amount of the funds. There is no supposed upfront cost.
I have a funny feeling about this, it does state that "You are also encouraged to show these materials to your attorney, we are confident that the agreement will be acceptable."

Sounds too good to be true, but I suppose it is possible. I have lost quite a few family members recently, and have moved around a lot, so it is very possible that there was an account, or death benefit out there somewhere.
I have tried searching on the company name through the BBB, but nothing comes up for them. I wont disclose the name here, but if anyone knows something I dont, I can PM it.
What do you guys think? Scam or not? Any lawyers in the house?
Thanks gang!

 

[turbot2496]

I do believe there is a way to do a search on something like this. Call your attorney and see if he can't get you somemore info on this or surf the web a little more for some more info. I would not go with the company that called you on the phone. Do your own homework and you won't have to give anybody a percentage of anything.

 

[KEVINS]

SCAM!.. Are you expecting "Unclaimed Funds?

If not then it's a scam. Don't get excited at the thought of "gaining" something if you are not expecting it in the first place...

ks

 

[arista5]

do a web search on the phone # they left you.... its a start

 

[SilverSleeper]

I may call them and see what they say.
I am not really expecting any funds, but I dont know how things were left after my mother died. She could have had a policy or death benefit through work, or something else. Plus I know that my grandparents put away some funds for us kids in the years before they passed on, but I think that that was already paid out to us.
My family has such poor financial planning, that it didnt surprise me to hear this, actually. I just dont know wether I believe them or not.
I might just have to consult a laywer before I go through with any of it.
All they want right now is for me to sign and date their form. They arent asking for my SS# or a bank account or anything like that.

 

[aperrego]

http://www.osc.state.ny.us/cgi-bin/db2www/ouffrm.d2w/input

Search there.. You should have your answer.

 

[SilverSleeper]

No luck with that search.
Somehow I doubted it would be there, I have searched that before.
But, if finding unclaimed funds were that easy, why would there be asset recovery companies that want to charge you for it?
There has to be more to it than that.

Right in the letter, it reads:
"This asset will not be reported to any state unclaimed property department. Once the deadline is reached, it becomes 100% uncollectable."

 

[aperrego]

Call em.. What could it hurt.. Use your best judgement.. You never know.. Sounds fishy, but call em. and DONT GIVE THEM SSN, BDATE, or CC number..

 

[strikeeagle]

Jason,

Please feel free to share the following with your attorney:

Great news!!! We have identified unclaimed funds for you!!! No money is needed up front - you only pay a percentage of what we've recovered!!!

How does 200% sound??? Good!!! Send $2,000,000 and the $1,000,000 is yours!!!

Hey, why not ask them for references? That should be good for a few laughs...

 

[TurboJunky]

I'd call them too and see what their deal is, but I suspect they're on a fishing expedition and will ask for $ after they have your attention. Like aperrego said, DO NOT give them your SS#, date of birth or full name.

You could contact your local county prosecutor's office for an opinion. State Attorneys General usually look into these "offers" too so you may want to contact them as well.

 

[SilverSleeper]

Okay, I called my father once he got home. Here is what he had to say:
He got the same phone call, same letter, same thing. He called them up and talked to them about it. They wouldn't give him any idea of where the money was from, how much it was, or anything. They just wanted him to sign the papers and return them. He thinks they are fishing too.

I may go to our county prosecutor and see what he has to say about it. If it is a scam, there are probably others out there that got this too.

Hopefully if anyone else gets these letters/phonecalls they wont jump into anything. I am pretty sure it must be a scam now. Those of you who are reading this, beware!

 

[brn agn]

I remember listening to a radio show awhile back (www.clarkhoward.com). The host said that there are companies that will get a list of people with unclaimed money, then contact them and try to charge them for obtaining the funds. The funny thing is that the average Joe can determine if he/she has unclaimed money. Here are some of the free websites he recommended checking:

http://www.missingmoney.com/
http://www.unclaimed.com/

If nothing else, it is kind of fun to just check out the websites.