650,000,000 reasons to check this website

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We're sure you've heard about all the recent lottery winners in South Carolina. Seems like the state is getting more and more lucky, but you can probably hedge your bets against the odds of winning (it's more likely you'll be eaten by a shark than win the lottery), by checking a government website to see if the state of South Carolina is holding onto some money for you or your business.

That's right. The S.C. Treasurer’s Office has $650 million of unclaimed property, and some of it could be yours (this sounds like a scam, but we promise, it isn’t).

According to the S.C. Treasurer’s Office, property is considered unclaimed or abandoned if the property hasn’t had any activity for
about five years and the holder isn’t able to locate the property owner.

The money comes from a variety of sources, such as when someone leaves behind a utility deposit when they move, changes their name, or leaves behind stock or wages when they leave a company without a forwarding address.

“This isn’t welfare,” said State Treasurer Curtis Loftis. “This is their money.”

To claim their property, owners just have to search on the S.C. Treasurer Office’s website and submit a claim. It's not just individuals either. Businesses also have unclaimed property.

Loftis said he has 15 people working full-time on returning unclaimed property to people. Depending on the com-plexity of the claim and the thoroughness of the claim documentation, it can take between four and 12 weeks for a property owner to get their money.

Unclaimed property laws began in the U.S. as a consumer protection program and have evolved to protect not only the owners of the property but their heirs and estates as well. The state will maintain custody of the property in perpetuity until the rightful owner or heirs come forward.