Illinois State Treasurer Michael Frerichs is urging residents to check the state's ICash website ahead of Halloween to see if they have missing money waiting to be claimed.

"You might find enough money for a bag of candy, a really good Halloween costume or tickets to a haunted house. Maybe even enough to take your friends out to see a scary movie," Frerichs said. "And speaking of scary movies, I checked the ICash database, and it looks like there's money waiting for several people named Michael Myers and even a few named Fred Krueger."

The Treasurer's Office said it also found missing money belonging to a couple of Lizzie Bordens, plenty of Jasons and several people named Kathy Bates — but no Annie Wilkes. There is also unclaimed property for some people named Pumpkin, Ghost and Gourd.

What ICash is

ICash is one of Illinois' oldest consumer protection initiatives. The Treasurer's Office is responsible for safeguarding and returning unclaimed property, including the contents of overlooked safe deposit boxes, unpaid life insurance benefits, forgotten bank accounts and unused rebate cards. By law, the Treasurer must return unclaimed property to its owner or heirs, no matter how long it takes.

Record returns

Frerichs returned a record $307.8 million in missing money to more than 567,000 residents, businesses and organizations through ICash during Fiscal Year 2026, according to his office. That broke the previous year's mark of $303.8 million returned to nearly 312,000 residents.

In all, Frerichs' office says he has returned more than $2.65 billion during his time in office. When he first took office, 60,000 claims were paid a year; today, more than 300,000 claims are paid in a normal year. His office credits a restructuring of the process that added electronic claims, eliminated red tape on small-money claims and, in some cases, returned money without the need to file a claim.

How to search

Residents can search by entering a name and a city or ZIP code at icash.illinoistreasurer.gov. A Spanish-language site is available at es.icash.illinoistreasurer.gov.

A "Friends and Family" share feature lets visitors who spot someone they know enter that person's email address. The Treasurer's Office then notifies the individual, who can begin retrieving the money.

The Treasurer's Office recommends people check at least twice each year to see if missing money is waiting for them.

Source: the original release