Business & Education

Ownerless Goods is known in latin as Bona Vacantia and it means property or funds that have no rightful owner that can be located and the government takes management or ownership of. In other places depending on the location, it is called by other terms. The US has shortened the term to unclaimed property and usually the individual state manages though at times the US government may take possession of the goods. If you know about the goods and can prove you should have them they can be recovered.

Bank accounts, company assets, property, or anything else that’s worth money counts as unclaimed property in these situations. There are cases in which people die, but they haven’t designated the recipients of their property or items. Whatever department is responsible for overseeing the money or property holds onto them until such time as an heir or other recipient can collect them as stipulated in some kind of will.

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. Everyone hopes that some deceased relative has left money or property that will make them rich simply by answering a letter or e-mail. Dishonest people take advantage of this desire to scam people out of their money.

Victims will usually see some sort of advertisement or communication online stating that they should submit their personal information in order to determine whether or not they qualify for the bona vacantia, or unclaimed property, that is being held by the government of their home country. You might even have to enter names of family members.

If there are unclaimed goods or funds matching the name of the person inquiring then they are contacted and more details will probably need to be submitted. The entire process takes place via letter or email and there is no agent involved. Knowing how ownerless goods recovery really works helps a person avoid the ripoffs.

The Bona vacantia, or unclaimed funds, scammer selects names at random from telephone books, e-mail spyware, or anywhere the person’s name is published. The victim is then contacted by e-mail or letter and told they are heir to money that has been unclaimed. This correspondence is designed to look very official and authentic.

Once a victim sends a response, they often get a phone call from the scammer, informing them of fees that they have to pay in order to collect. 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. As a result, you have to consult  such telephone look-up services in order to find out just how valid the caller is, and whether or not they’re legitimate.

Over any other form of payment a bank draft is considered the best by ripoff artists. A personalized bank draft from the victim opens them up for even worse scams and their name, home address, bank account number and sometimes even driver’s license number become available to the con men. Sending a personal bank check to con men can make the sender vulnerable to ripoff artists who steal their identity. The proper place for letters of this sort is the garbage can and of course never write back to them, the next step would be to email or write the proper agency to report this type of scam.