Surprise checks up to $250 automatically hitting mailboxes in US state

TENS of thousands of Americans are in line to receive one-time checks worth up to $250, with the cash automatically being sent out to mailboxes in a key US state.

The payments come from a pot of more than $13 billion in lost money, with the state returning the cash to its owners.

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A key US state is handing out payments worth up to $250 to residents[/caption]

Money that has been lost or forgotten for a long period of time is considered unclaimed property, such as uncashed checks, old checking and savings accounts, or unused gift cards.

Banks, insurance companies, corporations, and the courts, among other organizations, are legally required to report the abandoned property to the state following a certain period of inactivity.

While these organizations attempt to notify individuals by mail and even publish the information in newspapers, many funds remain unclaimed and are sent to a state’s comptroller, with no fee or time limit to claim it.

Over in New York, tens of thousands of residents have been handed checks worth up to $250 in lost money from the Office of the New York State Comptroller.

New Yorkers are receiving cash they may have not even known they were entitled to thanks to new regulations.

Residents previously had to file a claim for their unclaimed funds via the comptroller’s office, but a new law now permits the state to automatically mail checks for lost property worth $250 or less.

Around 70,000 New Yorkers have been on the receiving end of these payments so far in 2025, totaling $5.4 million in returned money, the comptroller’s office told Syracuse.com. 

Roughly 50% of the checks have been cashed, while an additional 16% were undeliverable.

Most New Yorkers received checks between $50 and $100.

MAKE IT RAIN

New York State is in possession of more than $13 billion in lost money.

Staten Island alone accounts for $139 million of that cash, with over 232,000 residents, businesses, and organizations owed unclaimed property.

Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli’s office returns more than $2 million on a daily basis to residents.

So far in 2025, the office has already returned more than $435 million in abandoned property to its rightful owners.

“Our goal with this program is to return people’s money,” Jennifer Freeman, a spokesperson for the comptroller’s office, told Syracuse.com.

“Money is owed to a lot of different people in the state.”

While the new law permits lost money worth $250 or less to be returned automatically to New Yorkers, unclaimed funds exceeding $250 must still be claimed by residents.

New Yorkers can check if there are any unclaimed funds waiting for them or their organization by visiting the state comptroller’s website.

Americans should be cautious of individuals pretending to be the government, offering to send lost money in exchange for a fee or confidential personal information. 

New Yorkers aren’t the only ones who can get their hands on free money.

Surprise checks up to $500, for example, are automatically being sent from a little-known “Money Match” program.

Meanwhile, another US state is handing out “surprise” checks up to $1,000 – see if you’re owed the “automatic” cash.

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Money that has been lost or forgotten over time is considered unclaimed property[/caption]