I recently received a letter from Sacremento California where I live
from THE DEPARTMENT OF UNCLAIMED FUNDS. Address: 2121 Natomas Crossing
Drive Sacramento 95834. They say that if I give them 80 dollars I will
receive 6000 in unclaimed funds. They say I can pay with Credit card
over the phone. They seem legitimate. Are they?

Dear ravenmaid-ga;

Thank you for allowing me to answer your interesting question. There
are dozens of unofficial entities out there that search public
databases for information and contact fund owners in an effort to
obtain a finder?s fee. Some of them do actually help people recover
funds for a fee. This may be what you are experiencing.

The initial red flag that came to my attention was the fact that the
entity that sent you the letter does not appear to be officially
associated with the Secretary of State of California or the State
Controller?s Office (the official agency that handles unclaimed
funds). They appear to be operating a website that is ambiguously
called:

?Department of Unclaimed Funds?
http://www.departmentofunclaimedfunds.com/contact.asp
2121 Natomas Crossing Drive
Suite 200-340
Sacramento, CA 95834

According to the Sacramento Better Business Bureau, the ?Department of
Unclaimed Funds? is a company classified as ?investigators?. The
Sacramento Better Business Bureau warns:

?Based on BBB files, THIS COMPANY HAS AN UNSATISFACTORY RECORD with
the Bureau due to unanswered complaint(s).

Closed Complaints
Number of complaints processed by the BBB since the firm's BBB file
was opened in July of 2005: 7
Number of complaints processed by the BBB in last 12 months: 7 

Complaints Concerned
Customer Service Issues: 1
Outcome of the complaint - Company made every reasonable effort to Resolve: 1 

Credit or Billing Issues: 6
Outcome of all complaints -
Resolved: 3; Company made every reasonable effort to
Resolve: 2; Company did not respond: 1?
http://www.sacramento.bbb.org/commonreport.html?bureau=sacra&compid=37003134&language=&code=

These issues would, in my mind at least, present serious concerns.
Regardless, the fact remains that you can do this on your own WITHOUT
paying anyone any fees. If you have legitimate unclaimed funds in the
possession of the State of California the state will gladly assist you
in recovering them and will allow you to claim the funds free of
charge.

CALIFORNIA STATE CONTROLLER
http://www.sco.ca.gov/col/ucp/index.shtml

I recommend you contact the California Attorney General?s Office about
the letter you have received. They may be able to tell you more about
them.

VOICE 1-800-952-5225(Toll-free in CA) or
(916) 322-3360
 
TDY 1-800-952-5548 (Toll-free in CA) or 
(916) 324-5564
 
FAX (916) 323-5341 

http://caag.state.ca.us/contact/index.htm


I hope you find that my answer exceeds your expectations. If you have
any questions about my research please post a clarification request
prior to rating the answer. Otherwise I welcome your rating and your
final comments and I look forward to working with you again in the
near future. Thank you for bringing your question to us.

Best regards;
Tutuzdad-ga ? Google Answers Researcher



INFORMATION SOURCES

Defined above


SEARCH STRATEGY


SEARCH ENGINE USED:

Google ://www.google.com


SEARCH TERMS USED:

UNCLAIMED FUNDS

DEPARTMENT OF UNCLAIMED FUNDS

SACRAMENTO

BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU

2121 NATOMAS CROSSING

WOW YOU DID A GREAT JOB HERE. THANK YOU WORTH EVERY CENT OF THE TEN
BUCKS I OFFERED. A MILLOIN THANKS

The state of California has an "unclaimed funds" search on their website...
http://scoweb.sco.ca.gov/UCP/

You could probably most likely find the information about any
unclaimed funds you have there.  "The Department of Unclaimed Funds"
is a company.  Their website is a little creepy as it has no real info
on it.  Just a logon and a webform for contact and their mailing
address.  At best it looks like one of those places that will sell you
info you can get by looking in the legals section of the newspaper or
going to your state website.

Hope this helps