People generally get excited when they learn the truth about unclaimed funds. It's not that most people don't have an inkling of what they are; it's more that most believe that the idea someone out there has money with their name on it is a hoax. It's hard to convince people that it's not a hoax. However, when people finally decide to search, they often find insurance rebates, property in their name, refunds from the disbanding of companies, etc. Some even find large tax rebates, especially those who are self-employed recently. The truth is that unclaimed funds are 100% real. Not everyone has money out there in their name, but it's estimated that states have billions of dollars in money and property just sitting at a treasury office with people's names on it. There is no infrastructure in place to send this out, and many people move around anyway. So, the point is that you have to track down this money yourself.

One issue that can arise here when tracking down that money, however, is that you may be opening yourself up to a huge world of annoyance if you happen to land on the radar of telemarketers. Although they may not be technically called "telemarketers" today per se, their MO is still the same: They get your number or email address, and they incessantly harang you with fake offers and solicit you with spam nonsense. Most people who file for unclaimed funds have to deal with a bit of this initially, while some are still dealing with it years later.

If you're going to file for unclaimed funds, there are steps you can take to ensure that you're not constantly bombarded by telemarketers who end up with your personal information. It's certainly worth taking a few extra steps to avoid that annoyance in your life.

Be Smart When Filing

The first thing you have to do here is to be smart when filing. There are two main ways that telemarketers get your information when you sign up with your data to check on the status of unclaimed funds. They get it through your phone number and through your email. You should think about using a junk email, what many people call a "burner." If it's your main email, or one you use for work, think about using an older email you don't use often, or even creating a new junk one just for these sorts of things. That way, any offers that come in unsolicited are going directly to an account you don't even care about.

You can also give an old or fake phone number. Better yet, you can set up a Gmail (Google Voice) number to ensure that any calls actually show up to your email address and don't trigger a phone call. If you are owed money through any states' treasury office, they're not going to call you to confirm. You will fill out forms and send a photocopy of your ID, proof of address, etc; they will not bother calling you to confirm. If they were going to do anything, they would have mailed you the check to begin with. So, be smart when filing here.

Get a Good Spam Filter

Another thing you can do to avoid these sorts of spam calls is to get a good app for your phone that filters them out completely. Most new smartphones today will alert you that the call you're receiving is spam. The trouble, however, is that you will still have to deal with annoying ringing and manually decline the call. With the right sort of spam filter, the phone shouldn't even ring if the call is registered as spam. It will automatically hang up. Eventually, the people on the other end are going to get the point and will no longer try to contact you.

Only Use Trusted Sites

Lastly, make sure you're only using trusted sites. There are hundreds (and perhaps many more) of those "unclaimed funds" websites out there, all promising that they're going to find your money. Most, however, are just honeypots that not only want your personal information but also expect some form of payment. Go with ".gov" websites only to be sure.

You may have some money out there with your name literally on it. The trick here is not triggering the spammers in the process of finding out.