This is Planet Money from NPR.

Hey, Planet Money listeners, it's Amanda Aeroncic.

So we're not a personal finance podcast.

We won't tell you where to invest or how to invest.

But in one very special episode, a couple of years back, we did share how you, yes, you

can get some free money.

Or more accurately, how you can find and claim money that you might have forgotten about.

The story is about the government's unclaimed property system.

It originally ran in 2020, but the information is timeless.

Here it is.

A few months ago, I heard about a guy who had a small fortune taken from him.

Walter Schram.

We got Walter on the phone to ask him about his missing money, and he was angry, but

you should know that the angry version of Walter Schram sounds like this.

It would have been nice, but I guess that's gone.

Walter is very chill.

And ironically, it's that trait that both brought him a small fortune and costumate.

Here's what happened.

Walter is Italian, and in the late 90s, he had the brilliant idea to start a company selling

Italian specialty products online, largely to Americans.

Like coffee machines, pasta machines, coffee.

At first, it seemed like things were going really well.

...