I received a letter in the mail from a “Joseph Richards & Associates” stating I had unclaimed money. It had information that sounded familiar so I wanted to investigate whether I could get the money on my own. I was almost ready to sign the letter when I figured out how to get it back on my own without paying them anything.
How to Get Your Joseph Richards & Associates Unclaimed Money On Your Own
The Letter I Received in the Mail
The letter I received stated the following (copied word for word from their letter):
After unsuccessfully trying to contact you, Safeco Ins Co of Amer has transferred your $500.00 refund into a third party escrow account, where it is being held on your behalf (see the information box above).
Private Investigators working for Joseph Richards & Associates were able to find your correct address, and we’re contacting you today because we’d like to make sure you collect your money.
Please contact our claim recovery agents so that they can help you navigate the escrow process.
To claim your money online
1. Visit http://www.jrfirm.com
2. Enter your ID: XXXXXXXX and Last Name: XXXXXX
If you prefer, you can also claim your refund by mail:
1. Sign and date the enclosed agreement.
2. Return it in the envelope provided.
3. Wait for your claim packet to arrive in the mail.
Please do not send us any money. After you receive your $500.00, we will send you an invoice for our investigation fee, which is: $100.00. If your claim is denied you will not be charged a fee. If you have any questions regarding your claim, you can call us toll-free at 1-800-995-2416.
Sincerely,
Claims Department
We are licensed and regulated by
CA Secretary of State C3091706 (New Concepts Inc DBA Joseph Richards & Associates)
3801 Pegasus Drive, Suite 101, Bakersfield, CA 93308 * 800 995 2416 * www.jrfirm.com
The Refund Authorization Form
Also included in the envelope was a “Refund Authorization Form”:
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| Joseph Richards & Associates Refund Authorization Form |
The Refund Authorization Form stated:
Joseph Richards
& Associates
REFUND AUTHORIZATION FORM
Claim Number: XXXXXX
Property ID Number(s): XXXXXXX
Reported Owner: JOHN X XXXXXXX
Approximate Value of Property: $500.00
Balance to Claimant: $400.00
Fee to Claimant’s Representative: $100.00 (20& of the amount you recover)
I, [Name Redacted for web publishing] (Owner) currently reside at [address redacted for web publishing] agree that in consideration of the efforts of Joseph Richards & Associates in fully identifying and help in processing of the claim, Owner hereby agrees to pay a total of $100.00 or 20% of the amount you recover to Joseph Richards & Associates. This amount is payable only upon receipt of the amount you recover to Joseph Richards & Associates. This amount is payable only upon receipt of the funds totaling approximately $500.00 from the agency holding this money. Should your payment vary either more or less, all fees will be prorated according to the above stated fee schedule. This fee will be payable immediately upon receipt of your funds. Owner agrees to work exclusively with Investigator to recover assets described herein during the terms of this agreement.
_________________________ _________________________
Print Name Daytime Phone No.
_________________________ _________________________
Signature Date
____________________________________________________
New Address (if different from above)
____________________________________________________
E-Mail Address (used for claim status updates only)
PLEASE PRINT YOUR NAME, SIGN AND DATE THIS AGREEMENT
3801 Pegasus Drive, Suite 101, Bakersfield, CA 93308 * 800 995 2416 * www.jrfirm.com
How I Got My Money on My Own
I actually did at one time have Safeco car insurance so I called Safeco to see if they could tell me anything. They looked me up, gave me my policy number, and told me they didn’t know anything about a refund. Baffled, I was almost ready to sign the form to have the so-called Joseph Richards & Associates get my money (for a generous 20% cut) when my wife questioned me whether I was sure I wanted to do that. I balked (thankfully). Soon after that it hit me to check the Colorado Unclaimed Property registry at: http://www.colorado.gov/treasury/gcp/ because I’d lived in Colorado when I had Safeco Insurance.
Low and behold, there it was, my unclaimed property in Colorado!!! I filled out the forms and mailed in a packet of information that included:
- A filled out State of Colorado Department of the Treasury Unclaimed Property Division form. Make sure you include the property ID number of the unclaimed property you are claiming.
- Photocopy of my current driver’s license.
- A W-2 showing my address at the time I had the policy
- A letter I obtained from Safeco stating my policy number and effective dates
As of today my request has been approved and a check for $500 is within 2 weeks of being cut and I didn’t have to pay any so-called Joseph Richards & Associates any money to get what should be mine for nothing. You can check the status of your Colorado Unclaimed Property by entering your property ID number on the website located here. This is what it shows currently for my claim:
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Great Colorado Payback Status: Waiting for Payment!!!
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11/2013 Update: I got my check!
So, if you get a letter from these guys go on over to The Great Colorado Payback or whatever state you used to live in and claim your money yourself and keep the 20% too! Did you get a letter from these guys? Share your experience in the comments…
I’ve compiled a list of all 50 state’s unclaimed property websites here.
2/2014 Update: Comment received (below) from the owner of Joseph Richards & Associates
I received a comment (see below) from Aaron, the owner of Joseph Richards & Associates himself, commenting on how the El Paso County Sheriff had (falsely) reported this as a scam. He mentions that they have apologized and now that link to the El Paso County Sheriff website below is no longer any good because they have taken down the article. I appreciate him reaching out to clarify.
Other notes:
- The El Paso County Sheriff (Texas) is was reporting this letter as a scam in the news. The link I had to that article is no longer available but please see the 2/2014 Update above.
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I got this letter today and had to google it to see if it was legit. It said I have $300 unclaimed from a foreclosure but when I checked my states website it said I have $160 unclaimed from an insurance premium refund. It didn’t mention any other unclaimed about.
Thanks for taking the time to share. Good job on tracking your own money down! If you lived in other states make sure to check their websites too! I put together a list of all 50 here: Unclaimed Property Website Links for All 50 States
Thanks, I received the same letter but my claim is in California. I followed your steps and waiting for my check from the state. The letter is legit, but it is easy to claim it yourself. Took 10 mins. of my time and filed electronically.
Roxanne, My friend received the same kind of letter.
Could you please tell me the steps we could follow to get this unclaimed money?
Thanks in advance for helping!
Scott Zimmer
Scott, I share all the steps I took to get my money back in this article you are commenting on–have you taken a look at it? Please take a closer look at the entire article because I share exactly what I did to get my money back on my own.
I own the company your are referring to. El Paso Sheriff has since taken down the scam letter warning and issued us a full apology (I can email it to yo if you want) as they did not even do the minimum amount of research in checking us out.
Anyway,, just to clear up a couple points, The agency who was holding your funds collects the interest and carves off something like 35% to their own general fund to use how they want. They do this because historically they know 35% will never be claimed. We only attempt to find people after the money has sat uncollected for YEARS. We think it is safe to assume people don't know about the money at that point. It costs us a lot of time and money to track people down and reunite them with their money. We wish we could do it for free but the truth is that it is very expensive! I have dedicated internal IT staff/customer service reps/production room etc. It is very expensive but well worth it. I have a wall of quite literally 1000's of thank you letters from people that I proudly display in our office.
Just some more background:
When people call the agencies direct we are of course bad mouthed and thrown under the bus and portrayed as the bad greedy guys…. and yet we are the ones trying to find you. Ask yourself who has been living off of your money the last couple years? Who is the only person trying to find and help you? They don't like us because we are responsible for returning a lot of money to people, and putting a dent in their general fund.
I'm truly glad that you were able to get your money back as that was my whole goal in getting into this business to begin with.
Keep your eyes open for more letters because we check thousands of places for lost loot, bankruptcy courts, county tax offices, hud refund etc etc….
Aaron, I just realized I never responded to your comment, I apologize. I read it right away and appreciate you reaching out to me. I want to be as honest as possible on my website and would not want to report anything as a scam that was not and I hope you didn't feel like I was trying to portray you guys as anything but what you are.