Great Arkansas Treasure Hunt Underway

State Auditor Charlie Daniels (D) kicked off the Great Arkansas Treasure Hunt, the annual effort to reunite nearly 58,000 Arkansans with abandoned cash, stocks, bonds, jewelry and other assets.

The items come to Daniels’ office through Arkansas’ Unclaimed Property Program.  Unclaimed property reported to the State Auditor’s office for 2011 totals $22.8 million, with an additional $150 million from previous years still waiting to be found.

The Great Arkansas Treasure Hunt is an annual awareness program conducted by the Auditor of State to help reunite unclaimed property owners with their lost assets.  The 2011 list of unclaimed property will be published in newspapers across the state beginning on September 19, but Arkansans can search the Auditor’s website anytime at www.auditor.ar.gov.
 
“Property usually comes to our office because the original owner has moved or died,” said Daniels.  “Tracking down an owner without a current address can be challenging, so we remind people to check their local newspaper listings and search our website. With nearly 600,000 names on the list, there’s a good chance we could have property belonging to you.”