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CAPITOL
State comptroller warns of unclaimed funds scam
BY BOB CONNER Gazette Reporter
Reach Gazette reporter Bob Conner at 462-2499 or bconner@dailygazette.net.

   State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli warned Tuesday that someone pretending to be him is sending “fraudulent e-mails . . . to unsuspecting people nationwide.”
   The comptroller’s press offi ce distributed a copy of an e-mail sent to a couple in Kansas, telling them “The State of New York is currently holding billions of dollars in unclaimed funds. Some of this money may belong to you!!!”
   The e-mail, which purports to be from DiNapoli, has a link to an old Web site of the comptroller. Its language is “mimicking language from the state comptroller’s Web site,” according to a DiNapoli news release.
   “If you can prove you are entitled to the money, I will gladly return it to you and you have to keep this confidential for the sake of my name,” the fraudulent e-mail says. It also mentions someone who has bequeathed $20 million and says, “I want you to contact me on this e-mail and do not call or contact any body except me.” A phone number is provided, “to enable me assist you to claim your unclaimed inheritance funds.”
   A redacted copy of the e-mail, provided through the comptroller’s office, can be found at www.osc. state.ny.us/press/releases/oct07/ fraudemails.pdf.
   “This is a scam,” DiNapoli said in a news release, adding that the matter has been referred to federal law enforcement personnel. He urged anyone who receives a similar communication not to use the contact information provided in the fraudulent e-mail, but instead to call the comptroller’s office Division of Investigations hot line at 1-888-672-4555.
   It is unclear if anyone else has been contacted besides the Kansas couple. Emily DeSantis, a spokeswoman for DiNapoli, said a warning went up on the comptroller’s Web site late Monday afternoon. By Tuesday afternoon, she said, three people had called the hot line regarding the issue, but she did not know whether they had gotten the fraudulent e-mail. “We expect more” reports of fraudulent contacts, DeSantis said. She said the Kansas recipients of the e-mail did not respond to it, but instead contacted the comptroller’s offi ce. Other recipients probably just deleted the e-mail, she said.
   DeSantis also declined to reveal the federal law enforcement agency involved. She said that agency had requested that it not be publicly identified.
   Adding to the confusion, the comptroller’s office last Friday put out a legitimate news release saying “New Yorkers can find out if they are owed some of the state’s $8 billion in unclaimed funds at events across the state in October.” That news release said representatives from DiNapoli’s office will be at the sites “to help New Yorkers determine if they are owed money.”
   Those events include the Oct. 13 Schenectady County Farm and Foliage Day at the Mabee Farm in Rotterdam and the Oct. 13-14 Country Folk Horse and Farm Expo at the Fonda Fairgrounds.
   DeSantis said she did not believe there was any connection between the legitimate news release and the fraudulent e-mail. She said there have been attempted scams in the past involving unclaimed funds.  

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“If you can prove you are entitled to the money, I will gladly return it to you and you have to keep this confidential for the sake of my name,” the fraudulent e-mail says. It also mentions someone who has bequeathed $20 million and says, “I want you to contact me on this e-mail and do not call or contact any body except me.” A phone number is provided, “to enable me assist you to claim your unclaimed inheritance funds.”