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The name Bona vacantia , in England, stands for ownerless property that has passed to the crown. Various countries use different names for this procedure. There’s no official name for this in America; it just consists of land that is unclaimed and, as a result, goes to the government. If everyone is unaware of it, however, you can recover it.

Almost any item of worth can be considered ownerless goods such as, abandoned checking accounts, real estate, or even jewelry. There are cases where a deceased person has not made a will or appointed any beneficiary and their property leaving them in limbo. These funds and/or properties are held for an indefinite amount of time by the departments responsible for them until claimed by an heir or the original owner if it was abandoned.

This possibility of being the heir to unclaimed property or having unknown money floating in governmental coffers has opened a wide field for scam artists. It’s easy for many to fall into the trap that the email they just got is true and all they have to do is respond and they are rich. Everyday people fall into this trap and are ripped off by con men every day with the lure of money from nowhere.

These unclaimed properties or moneys are not kept secret but advertised in the local paper, or via a website and they may request some basic personal information such as a full name or possibly relatives names and that information is checked against the database to see if there is property for the inquirer. Occasionally names of relatives will be required.

Contact will soon follow, provided the family names you submit match their list, and you’ll be asked for more information. This is all done by correspondence and no agent will be contacting the applicant. If you know this, you’ll be less likely to be scammed by tricksters.

Anywhere a person has their email or name made public is a source of potential victims for the Unclaimed goods ripoff artist, it could be the phone book, email lists or email scrapers off the internet. The next step in this ripoff is to be contacted by the conman usually by correspondence or by an e-mail and they will be informed they have funds due them. A simple glance won’t usually reveal these communications to be frauds because the con men take pains to make it look as if the letter were from a government or state agency.

The next step is when the victim responds to the communication they will be asked to give their contact details and usually a phone call will be made saying the goods are available but there are expenses or fees that must be paid before it can be released. For the most part, this money gets paid to the con artists, and the victim never receives any of the money they were led to believe they would. In cases like these knowing whom you are speaking to and being able to verify that with a service such as http://telephone-searching.info/631/750/, can save much time and many dollars because it would be immediately apparent the agent is not who he says he is.

Scammers are especially happy when the victim sends a personal check. This allows them access to the bank account number, the required signature, complete address, and other information. Sending a personal bank check to con men can make the sender vulnerable to ripoff artists who steal their identity. Absolutely avoid these correspondences if you can, but if you do want to investigate these claims, consult the appropriate government agency to check up on them.

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