Opinion

I found my cousin nearly $30,000 in ‘lost’ money. Then I discovered who was holding it

Vague databases, buried claims and bureaucratic obstacles keep billions in private property flowing into government coffers

By Mark Lewyn Fox News

Published June 6, 2026 8:00am EDT

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A few months ago, I was poking around Colorado’s unclaimed property database when I spotted a familiar name: my cousin Jonathan.

The listing was maddeningly vague. It showed his name, an old address and one slippery little phrase: "over $250."

That could mean $251. It could mean $2,500.

Or, as it turned out, it could mean nearly $30,000.

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Unclaimed property is a $100-billion disaster that hurts every American. (Fox News)

I sent the listing to Jonathan and forgot about it. Weeks later, he called me stunned but happy. The money was real. It was a forgotten tax refund that had been sitting in state custody for years.

His first question was the obvious one: How could I not have known about this?

The answer should make every American angry.

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Because the system is not really built to make this money easy to find or easy to get back.

That one phone call sent me down a rabbit hole. I started digging through state records, audits, government databases and public documents. What I found was not some cute local-news story about forgotten cash.

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It was what amounts to a national scandal hiding in plain sight.

CONDUENT DATA BREACH HITS MILLIONS ACROSS MULTIPLE STATES

Across America, state governments are sitting on more than $100 billion in unclaimed money. That includes forgotten bank accounts, old paychecks, uncashed tax refunds, insurance payouts, unused gift cards, abandoned securities, utility deposits and money owed to dead relatives whose heirs never knew it existed.

New York alone is holding more than $20 billion. California has about $15 billion. Texas is sitting on about $10 billion.

This is not government money. It is your money. My cousin’s money. Your parents’ money. Your dead grandmother’s money. Your old employer’s money. Your forgotten tax refund.

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The government calls it "unclaimed........

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