Got a text about unclaimed property? It's almost certainly a scam.

The fastest test: was it a text? If yes, it's fake. State unclaimed property divisions communicate by mail. A few states will send an email if you've created an account on their portal and opted in to notifications, but cold outreach by text does not happen. The agencies don't have your phone number. They have your last-known mailing address — that's the entire reason the property became unclaimed in the first place. Other tells: the link in the text doesn't go to a .gov domain (real state portals are at state.gov subdomains or on findyourunclaimedproperty.com / claimittexas.org / similar partner platforms with state-issued certificates), the message asks you to click immediately to avoid "forfeiture" (states almost never forfeit unclaimed property), and the message asks for a fee, gift card, crypto payment, or banking credentials to "release" the funds. No legitimate state process works that way.

The Federal Trade Commission's March 2026 consumer alert flagged a coordinated rise in unclaimed-property smishing — text messages spoofing state treasurer and comptroller names. The alert's three-line summary: states don't text, links in unsolicited texts shouldn't be clicked, and anyone asking for payment or sensitive personal data to release "your" money is running a scam. The FTC noted that scammers have gotten better at the spoofing in two ways. First, they're cycling through state-specific language (Texas Comptroller, California State Controller, New York Office of Unclaimed Funds) to match the recipient's likely jurisdiction based on area code. Second, the lookalike landing pages now mimic real state portal designs with surprising fidelity — pulling logos, color schemes, and even font choices. The fidelity matters because users who'd dismiss a sloppy phishing page may interact with a polished one.

Two reasons. The first is that legitimate state unclaimed-property awareness is at an all-time high — NAUPA's annual reporting numbers show record claim volume in 2024 and 2025, partly because of news coverage of state holdings (California's $15 billion pile, New York's $19 billion), partly because of consumer-aggregator sites making the data easier to find. When real awareness rises, scammers piggyback. Recipients who'd ignore a generic phishing text engage with one that references a thing they've heard is real. The second reason is operational. SMS scams require almost no infrastructure — a burner number, a templated landing page, a payment rail (gift cards or crypto, typically). The barrier to entry is low and the per-recipient cost is fractions of a cent. As long as a small percentage of recipients click and pay, the economics work.

If a state unclaimed property division contacts you, it'll be a paper letter sent to your last-known address. The envelope and letterhead carry the state agency name (State Treasurer, State Comptroller, Department of Revenue — see the full agency list). The letter identifies the property type and amount, references a specific reporting period and holder, and gives you instructions to file a claim through the official portal. It does not ask for payment. It does not ask for a Social Security number embedded in the letter — you'll provide that on the claim form, submitted through the portal, on a secure connection. Some states also publish quarterly newspaper notices listing owner names — old-fashioned but still legally required in many jurisdictions. If you want to verify whether the state holds property in your name, search the official portal directly, not a link from a text. We deep-link to every state's official portal from our state directory.

Depends what happened next. If you only landed on the page and didn't enter anything, close the tab. There's no harm from a single page load. If you entered personal information — name, date of birth, address, last four of SSN — assume that data is now in a fraud-database and act accordingly. Place a free fraud alert with one of the three credit bureaus (Experian, Equifax, TransUnion); the bureau you contact will notify the other two. Consider freezing your credit, which is also free and reversible. If you provided full SSN or bank credentials, the response is more involved. Change any banking and email passwords immediately. Notify your bank's fraud department. File a report at IdentityTheft.gov, which generates a recovery plan tailored to what you disclosed. If you sent money — typically via gift card or crypto — recovery is unlikely but report it anyway. The FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov, your state attorney general's office, and the platform you used to send the payment all want the report. Filed reports help build cases that occasionally lead to enforcement, even when individual recoveries don't happen.

Practically no. As of the writing of this guide, no state unclaimed property division uses unsolicited text messages as a contact method for owners. A handful of state portals offer optional SMS notifications — but those go only to users who have created an account, verified their identity, and explicitly opted in. Cold texts to people who've never interacted with the agency simply don't happen. If you're uncertain whether a specific notice is legitimate, the test is universal: search your name at the state's official portal directly. If the property exists, the portal will show it. If it doesn't, the text is fake regardless of how convincing it looks. Don't click the link in the text to verify — type the state agency's URL directly, or use our search tool to sweep all participating states at once.

A paper finder-fee letter is usually legal, even if it's predatory. A real finder firm has identified real property in a real state database and is offering — for a percentage — to file the claim on your behalf. The property exists. The fee is the issue, not the underlying claim. A text scam is something else. There may or may not be real property; the scammer didn't check. The goal is to harvest your personal data or extract a "processing fee." The text is impersonating a state agency rather than disclosing a finder relationship. The two business models share a target — people who've heard about unclaimed property and don't know exactly how the legitimate process works — but they operate on different sides of the legal line. The response is the same: ignore both, search the state portal yourself.

Three steps in order: - Delete the text. Don't reply, don't click, don't forward. - Check whether you actually have unclaimed property by searching at our multi-state search or directly at any of the 50 official state portals. The search is free and takes about two minutes. - If you find property, file the claim directly with the state through the portal. If you don't, you've confirmed the text was empty bait. If you want to report the scam, forward the text to 7726 (SPAM) — your carrier will investigate the originating number — and file a complaint with the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. State attorneys general also accept reports and occasionally bring enforcement actions against operators they can identify. Don't pay a finder firm to do what the state portal does for free, and don't engage a text claiming to be the state at all.

Every successful unclaimed-property text scam erodes trust in the legitimate process. People who get burned by a fake text become more skeptical of the real letter that arrives months later — the one from the actual state agency confirming a real $400 deposit refund or a forgotten utility deposit. The scam economy doesn't just take money from victims; it makes the rest of the population less likely to claim what's theirs. The defense is education. The rule is simple enough to teach a relative in one sentence: states don't text. Every other safeguard flows from that. If you remember nothing else from this guide, remember the sentence. The 50-state map is your starting point any time you want to verify property without trusting an unsolicited message.