A company marketing unclaimed money and property recovery services to consumers via prerecorded message calls agreed to cease its activities amid deception charges, the Florida attorney general's office said Friday.
Claims Retrieval Center and Funds Recovery Center, Mesa, AZ, also agreed to refund an unspecified amount of money collected from consumers, the attorney general's office said. Its operator, Robert Barrere, sent messages to Florida consumers urging them to call a number in El Segundo, CA, to learn about how to retrieve unclaimed money and property, according to the charges.
Florida and most states provide information and claims forms for free. Those who called the number provided were told to send $25 and a self-addressed envelope to a Mesa address to obtain claims forms, the attorney general's office said.
A “relatively small number” of consumers in Florida responded to the solicitation before it was stopped, the attorney general's office said. Barrere admitted to no wrongdoing as part of the agreement.
