You could be owed money by the government.
Right now in Virginia, there is a little over $2 billion waiting to be claimed, according to the Virginia Department of Treasury. They report one in seven people in the United States is believed to have unclaimed property.
It’s an issue that the News 3 investigative team continues to tell you about.
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Massive amounts of money are owed to people throughout Hampton Roads.
The Virginia Department of Treasury sent us the names of people who are owed money in the Tidewater Region.
We also asked for the high amounts that are waiting to be claimed by people in each city:
- Hampton - $188,000
- Newport News - $476,000
- Suffolk - $280,000
- Norfolk - $453,000
- Portsmouth - $256,000
- Virginia Beach - $474,000
- Chesapeake - $776,000
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These individual claims are extremely high and very rare, but they say across the Commonwealth, the U.S. Department of Treasury reports there is a little over $2 billion in unclaimed money and property.
Diana Shaban is a representative for the Virginia Department of Treasury for Unclaimed Property. She is part of a team that works to identify and track down people who are owed money.
“Unclaimed property could be anything,” said Shaban. "It's not actually always tangible. It can be safe deposit box contents. It can also be a refund check that was sent to you, but you never received. It could be an overpayment that you made at the doctor's office, and they tried to send you the check."
When a company is trying to return money to an individual and they can’t find them, by law, it’s eventually sent to the Department of Treasury.
It could be old utility deposits, stocks, bond dividends, insurance proceeds and even physical property.
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The News 3 I-Team previously got a tour of their headquarters and looked inside the vault where some of the items are kept.
"There are no fees involved in claiming your property and the property stays in our system forever until the legal, rightful owner files a claim," said Shaban. "If you've lived in multiple states, a legitimate source for you is to go to missingmoney.com."
You can also search your name or business in the state of Virginia here.
“Whether it's $100 or whether it's $1 million, that's our goal here, that’s our mission here is to be able to reunite rightful owners with their unclaimed property in our system,” said Shaban.
She asks that people be patient with getting their claims.
The Department of Treasury warns people that they will never ask for your Social Security number or other personal information. They warn that there are scammers out there, so verify who you are speaking to.
