Lost-cash sites may not be what they claim

Last week, Kansas State Treasurer Dennis McKinney warned all residents of Southeast Kansans of websites that ask for payment before they can discover if they have any unclaimed cash or property. Many sites such as, www.cashunclaimed.com are not sponsored or endorsed by the Kansas State Treasurer's Office. Theses websites instruct users that 30 days access will cost $11.00 and automatically renew every 30 days until the subscription is cancelled. Users are also given the option to purchase one year access at $29.00 and a lifetime access pass for $99.00.

"Kansans should be warned that claiming what is rightfully yours should never cost you anything," said McKinney. "I ask that anyone who is instructed to pay a fee in order to claim their missing property please contact my office immediately."

When using a search engine the State Treasurer's website may not be the first one that is prompted to computer users. So it is important that Kansans searching for property are visiting the correct site. The correct websites for Kansans to visit when they want to search for unclaimed property held by the State of Kansas is www.KansasCash.com or www.kansasstatetreasurer.com which are both run by the Kansas State Treasurer's Office.

You can also call the State Treasurer's office at 1-800-432-0386 to find out if you have any unclaimed property. When contacting our office we ask that you provide a first and last name in order to search our property listings. If there is property listed under the name then there will be additional questions in order to identify that the property does indeed belong to the caller.

"It's important to remember that you should never pay to claim the cash that is being held by our office," McKinney said. "These operations are legal but unnecessary as Kansans can easily find these properties by visiting our website or calling our office."

The Treasurer learned of this scam after his unclaimed property tour through portions of Southeast Kansas. The Treasurer's office would like to offer these tips to prevent Kansas residents from being scammed:

* Make sure you are searching official state sponsored web sites and endorsed web sites such as: www.KansasCash.com, www.kansasstatetreasurer.com or for nation-wide searches www.MissingMoney.com.

* Be wary of organizations and people that offer to help you claim your cash or property for a fee. There is no need to pay. Claiming and searching unclaimed property is absolutely free.

* Never give out your credit card number in order to claim or search property.

Each year approximately $20 million worth of unclaimed property is turned over to the Kansas State Treasurer's Office from banks, businesses and organizations. There is currently more than $200 million of unclaimed property being held by the Treasurer's office for Kansans. One of the duties of the Kansas State Treasurer is to seek and return various forms of unclaimed property. The State Treasurer's office works to reunite Kansas residents with their unclaimed financial assets and safety deposit boxes.