The golden rule
The official Australian registers we link to are free to search, generally let you claim directly without a private service, do not ask for a payment to release funds, and do not contact you out of the blue demanding urgent action. If money is genuinely yours, you can usually search yourself and claim directly with the authority.
No legitimate register will ever ask you to pay a tax, a transfer fee, a legal fee or a release fee before paying you. Treat any request for an upfront payment as a scam.
Warning signs
Unsolicited contact by email, text, phone or social media claiming you are owed money. Genuine registers publish the information and wait for you to search.
Pressure and deadlines. Unclaimed money in Australia does not expire, so any claim that you must act within 24 or 48 hours is false.
Requests for your full identity documents, banking logins or card details up front. Real claims are lodged through the institution's own secure process, not by emailing scans to a stranger.
Overseas inheritances, distant relatives and lottery windfalls. These are the classic advance fee frauds dressed up as unclaimed money.
Fee-charging finder services
Some operators are not scams but commercial finders. They search the public registers, contact the owner, and offer to recover the money for a percentage - commonly between 10 and 30 per cent.
What they do is legal, but it is work you can do yourself for free using the same public registers. Some states cap or restrict what finders may charge; read any agreement carefully before signing.
Never sign a finder's agreement without first searching the free registers yourself. Once you know what you are owed, you no longer need them.
If you think you've been targeted
Do not respond, do not pay, and do not send documents. Report the approach to Scamwatch, and to your bank immediately if you have already sent money or card details.
If you have shared identity documents, contact IDCARE, the national identity support service, for free advice on protecting yourself.
I found a possible match, what now?
A listing is a record the authority holds, not proof the money is yours. Note the reference shown against it, check the details you recognise, then open the claim page on the official site and read what evidence it asks for before you start. You lodge the claim directly with that authority, never through this site.
What documents you may needI found nothing, what now?
A nil result usually means you searched the wrong register, the wrong spelling of a name, or too few variations of it. Try surname only, earlier surnames and each state you have lived in, then work through the troubleshooting steps before you give up.
Searched and found nothingTip: If anyone asks for a payment to release your money, it is a scam - every official Australian register is free.
Common questions
Official sources checked
- Researched and reviewed by
- Find Lost Money Australia
- Information last verified
- 1 August 2026
Find Lost Money Australia is an independent information service, not a government agency. Our review checks the responsible agency's current page, search location and claim instructions. Agencies can change their rules, so confirm details on the official site before you act.
Keep looking
Continue your lost-money search
Money goes missing in more than one place. These are the next things worth checking.
- Every official registerEvery official register we have verified, filterable by state and type of money.
- National registersMoneySmart, the ATO, Fair Work and AFSA in one place.
- Proving your identityThe documents each register asks for before it will release money to you.
- Your state or territory registerEach state holds unclaimed refunds, deposits and trust money from businesses in that state.
Searching is free. Every register we link to lets you search at no cost, and you can lodge a claim yourself. Be cautious of any business that asks for an upfront fee simply to search a public register on your behalf. Find Lost Money Australia is an independent information service. We are not a government agency and we do not hold or search unclaimed money databases.