ORLANDO, Fla. – In May, Local 6 told you about the website www.fltreasurehunt.org where visitors can find money owed to them by a company or an agency and then can claim it for free. But beware, there are many websites offering the same services for a fee.
In fact, a quick Google search proves there are many websites out there promising to find your missing money.
Marilyn Stone discovered just that as she was trying to get to the only official website, run by the state of Florida.
Stone called Local 6 after she saw our story, and then saw her name, and what she thought was her money-$7,000.
The state's official department of financial services site is www.fltreasurehunt.org, but just a simple mistake, like typing in the word "Florida" instead of the letters "fl", takes you to a totally different page offering a list of all websites promising to help you recover your cash for a fee.
But when Stone went to the state's site she discovered there was no money waiting for her. That $7,000 was bogus.
That's because, most third-party sites will make you pay before they'll show you specific search results.
Many of the third-party sites that offer to get you your cash are legitimate. They are allowed to find missing money, and they are allowed to collect a fee to do it, but if you go to www.fltreasurehunt.org you won't have to pay a dime.