Thousands of Illinois residents may have a check from the state waiting for them in their mailboxes.
The Illinois State Treasurer’s office recently sent unclaimed property checks to 138,561 people in Illinois, totaling a record $13.2 million.
Treasurer Michael Frerichs held a news conference Tuesday to remind Illinois residents to cash these checks.
“We have done such a good job convincing people in the state that there are identity thieves out there, that they think it’s a scam. They think it’s a hoax and these checks go uncashed,” Frerichs said.
“This money doesn’t belong to the state; it belongs to our citizens and we love to return it.”
These checks are part of the latest wave sent out through the Enhanced Money Match program, which allows the treasurer’s office to automatically return money to Illinois residents without them filing a claim.
The program uses information the state collects and crossmatches it with the treasurer’s unclaimed property database.
Once the treasurer’s office matches the recipient’s name and address it sends a check — all people need to do is cash it.
“If you see a check in the mail from the state treasurer’s office … it is not a scam,” Frerichs said. “All you have to do is open that envelope and cash that check.”
Since the program launched in 2018, the treasurer’s office has returned more than $102 million to nearly 422,000 people.
The majority of the checks released in this latest round are for $50 to $100, according to Frerichs.
But sometimes there can be a life-changing amount of money sitting in unclaimed estates.
In 2022, Frerichs announced the largest-ever unclaimed estate and heirs: $11 million left behind by a Southwest Side man with no immediate relatives.
Joseph Stancak, described as a hermit and a recluse by the few who knew him, died in 2016 at 87, leaving behind no will.
The money sat, waiting for a rightful heir or heirs to show up, and eventually a Barrington attorney found 119 distinct heirs.