Imagine a call out of the blue saying you have a large inheritance coming. It happened to one man who learned it's not a scam, but there is a hitch.

His mother died 16 years ago, but Mark Ziegenbein was just notified she left him $24,000 in stocks. A New York firm that finds heirs claims it found the unclaimed inheritance. "Just one question, why I can't find it?"

Mark checked the Nebraska State Treasurer’s unclaimed property list and a national Web site, but neither showed the $24,000 inheritance.

The locators at SMS Group will show him the money for a finder's fee of 33% or $8,000. “If they find it, I can understand some fee being involved,” says Ziegenbein. “A third is a lot of money to give up to find the money.”

The state treasurer says dormant stock accounts are monitored by what are called “transfer agents” and after years of inactivity are required to turn stocks over to the state as unclaimed property. Before that, treasure finders will pay those agents a fee to get the records before they become public.

The state's unclaimed property manager says it's a legal, but questionable business practice. The owner of the heir finding firm says stock companies pay him to find people who don't know they have money coming and the one-third fee pays for numerous administrative costs.

“It certainly raises your curiosity about if the money exists, why we couldn't find it?" asks Ziegenbein. For no fee, the state treasurer will help Mark locate the $24,000 in unclaimed stock.

Nebraska State Treasurer Shane Osborn calls this a "bad faith" effort by a predatory stock transfer company. Osborn says do not sign a contract before letting his office look for unclaimed investments for free.