State Sues Unclaimed Money Site After Finding It Told Wile E. Coyote He Had Unclaimed Money

from the batman-too dept

Thu, Apr 3rd 2008 9:21am — Mike Masnick

Pennsylvania is suing a website that promised to help people get access to unclaimed money they were owed after investigators determined that the site was convincing people to pay $24.95 for a membership by telling them they had unclaimed money, no matter who they were. Investigators used the scientific method of testing whether Spiderman, Batman and Wile E. Coyote had unclaimed money. After discovering that all three were told they did (on a free search, details only available if you paid), they decided that the site was perhaps being less than honest with users.

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Filed Under: scam, unclaimed money, wile e. coyote

26 Comments

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Mike C., 3 Apr 2008 @ 9:40am

Scary thought...
And we'll see big media with their copyright/trademark lawsuit against the state of PA in 3...2...1...

Personally, I don't know what's worse...that the thought was one of my first when I saw the names used in the search or that I may not be wrong.
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Rumplestiltskin, 3 Apr 2008 @ 10:04am

Me Too!
Aparently, I, Rumple Stiltskin have unclaimed money as well. Sign me up.
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Erik, 3 Apr 2008 @ 10:08am

google ads for this article...
As I was reading this article I couldn't help notice that the google ads next to it include such gems as:

"Want unclaimed money? Just by clicking buttons. Today only 4.95"

I think there ought to be a stack of lawsuits insad of just this one in PA.
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Spiderman, 3 Apr 2008 @ 10:10am

Damn... I am a victim of identity theft...
Someone has attempted to clain my unclaimed money.
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- Ima Fish, 3 Apr 2008 @ 10:32am
  
  Re: Damn... I am a victim of identity theft...
  Spiderman or Spider-Man?
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Steve R. (profile), 3 Apr 2008 @ 10:19am

On-Going Scam
The internet has given us unprecedented power in being able to do research. On the downside, the "fake" hits that are nothing more than marketing ploys. When I did a look-up on my grandmother, a link popped up announcing the availability of her personal "diary".

It would be nice if these dubious hits could be filtered out. When I search for a product, I would like to see a real review, not a phony review that is a disguised sales pitch. But then we get into the slippery slope issue of what constitutes "good" versus "bad" information. Oh well!
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Anonymous Coward, 3 Apr 2008 @ 10:22am

The funny thing is, I bet you somewhere in the United States, some dipshit has actually changed his name to Wile E. Coyote and is now enraged at the ridicule being poured upon him...

Should this be a lawsuit though or a federal fraud case?
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Rob, 3 Apr 2008 @ 10:23am

Somewhere...
one Wile E. Coyote now knows he has unclaimed money, and just saved himself $24.95
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James, 3 Apr 2008 @ 10:26am

It is a scam
My Grandfather is actually on the list in California for unclaimed property. Some old PG&E stock payout worth like 20 bucks.

I did a search on that site and it did not return my grandfathers entry.

It did however return a listing for my uncle (same whole name, and my family is one of two in so cal with my last name, and for sure the only ones in Chula Vista).

I am thinking it just does a public records search.
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Jake, 3 Apr 2008 @ 10:30am

Thanks Mike. Best laugh I've had all day.
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Cory, 3 Apr 2008 @ 10:39am

State Sites
What gets me is the fact that most, if not all states, have websites that allow you to do the same searches completely for free. They even tell you how to go about claiming your money.
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- Fox, 3 Apr 2008 @ 11:03am
  
  Re: State Sites
  What gets me is the fact that most, if not all states, have websites that allow you to do the same searches completely for free. They even tell you how to go about claiming your money.
  And, there are sites that charge for tax forms that anyone can download for free by going to irs.gov.
  
  Circuit City's website has lower prices for many items than you'll find in store.
  It's like a tax for being stupid.
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Lucretious, 3 Apr 2008 @ 11:31am

The funny thing is, I bet you somewhere in the United States, some dipshit has actually changed his name to Wile E. Coyote and is now enraged at the ridicule being poured upon him...

I'm thinking how funny would it be that some drug dealer set up several dummy accounts with just those names used and there is several thousands dollars sitting there unclaimed......
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Bob, 3 Apr 2008 @ 11:35am

While your at it...
While your at it send tax money to the govenment and they'll protect and serve you.

hmmm... 24.95 doesn't seem so bad anymore
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Charlie Potatoes, 3 Apr 2008 @ 11:47am

spiderman--spider-man
It's two different guys.. Spiderman is the Jewish one. you know.. Irving J. Spiderman...
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Charlie, 3 Apr 2008 @ 12:25pm

It wouldn't surprise me if people used these as fictitious names on various accounts and ended up with unclaimed funds due to the fictional characters that nobody could claim.
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Anonymous Coward, 3 Apr 2008 @ 12:31pm

Someone check Spiderpig.... ha ha
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Drew, 3 Apr 2008 @ 1:33pm

Not a bad scam.
I mean, I'm a fairly intelligent, tech savvy guy. I searched for myself and there I was, approximate age and hometown were correct. And I was half tempted to find out where I had unclaimed money.

Hell, if they could *guarantee* that I actually had unclaimed money, I'd probably pay em. But more than likey they just found my name in the public record somewhere and threw it in there.
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ME, 3 Apr 2008 @ 2:05pm

Don't go there even if they say you are due money. My father told me one day that the state owed me $200 and to check it out, this was before they charged you money. I had to enter my name and e-mail address to see what money they had, They said it was two unclaimed checks and sent me to a page to print out a form to mail to them to get my money. I filled out the form and printed it but never sent it out. Since then my e-mail address has been flooded with spam all addressed to my full name and home address, witch I never had used on any web site. Now today I had a scam charge on my phone bill from ildtelecom. I called them to ask what this was and they told me that I signed up for their service on the Internet using that e-mail address. Of course I never did sign up there.
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Prodiem, 3 Apr 2008 @ 2:26pm

Actually trust the Government for once
This is one of those cases where I can say I only trust the Government. It's cumbersome, but relatively safe, I don't have to worry excessively about spam, identity theft, etc.
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pay to get, 3 Apr 2008 @ 3:05pm

Pay 24.95 to get your unclaimed funds of 4.95.
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Flightless Speedius, 3 Apr 2008 @ 5:10pm

Hey, I could see Wile E. getting being on the list. After all the defective junk he's been sold by Acme, there's probably *something* coming from a class-action lawsuit. Or just a refund check that wasn't delivered to his lair (because he blew it up or something).

Of course, he could probably just check with the State of Arizona for free...
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Flightless Speedius, 3 Apr 2008 @ 5:11pm

Hey, I could see Wile E. being on the list. After all the defective junk he's been sold by Acme, there's probably *something* coming from a class-action lawsuit. Or just a refund check that wasn't delivered to his lair (because he blew it up or something).

Of course, he could probably just check with the State of Arizona for free...
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R.H., 4 Apr 2008 @ 12:30am

The REAL Wile E. Coyote
My curiosity got the best of me, as it does at times, so I visited zabasearch.com to do a name search. Lo and behold, I found a Mr. Wile E. Coyote who lives in Huntsville, Alabama. Full home address and telephone number. I knew there was probably someone but seriously?
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Tom, 12 Oct 2008 @ 4:13am

Not a scam, but a real problem!
The following does not relate to people being scammed, but to actual problems with the official/state databases that list unclamed money.

You should not limit yourself to searching strictly by last name. The databases have some interesting quirks, which is a result of the proverbial “garbage in – garbage out” phenomenon. Try searching by first name, middle name, titles (i.e. Mr, Mr., (note period) Mrs, Mrs., (note period) Estate, Est, ITF (stands for In Trust For), FBO (for benefits of), EXEC, EXECUTRIX, THE, DECD, DECEASED, TRUST, TTEE, TRUSTEE, JR, JR., (note period) SR, MISS, PSFS, (don’t know what that stands for but it’s some legal abbreviation), ESCROW, II, III, IV, PHD, DMD, DDS, DR, DR., (note period), ETAL, AND, ATTY, ATTY., (note period) ASSOC, ASSOC., (note period) CR, (CR is legal term for Creditor). If you are a “Mc” something, try searching by the “MC” only in the last name field, or if you are a “MCC” something (i.e. “McCool”) you might try searching by “MCC”. I would suggest only using the last name box in your search quest unless you are searching a name that comes up with over 400 hits in the database.
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spiderman, 26 May 2009 @ 4:12pm

There is a free game with Spiderman in it called Mugen
You know there is a free Spiderman game for the pc? The game has Spiderman, Carnage, Venom and more characters from Marvel, X-men, Justice League, and more. It is called MUGEN.
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