Getting your unclaimed property

I recently received a letter from Payne Richards & Associates telling me there is a 4 figure unclaimed amount under my name. Some people suspected this is a scam but in reality I believe this is not a scam and it's a matter of them running through public records doing some intense database work (potentially now with the leverage of AI) to locate the owner that doesn't know they have unclaimed property and then they charge a 10% fee for helping you recover them.

For those in California, you can lookup the relevant information on https://ucpi.sco.ca.gov/ and just use your First and Last name and then if you have a very common name (especially common for Asians) then you will want to use the zip code and property info etc. to narrow your search. And then you can hit the button to "claim it".

The truth is whether that service is worth it is up to the individual to decide. As an example, lets say they find an unclaimed property of $1,000, the calculation of 10% would amount to $100 you have to pay to get that $1,000. The question for many people would simply then be is it worth your own time to go through the process or let them handle it (plus some small overhead you need to go with them).