NEW YORK (WABC) — Megan Malvern recently got a surprise gift from Tiffany’s… sort of.
It was actually cash money on a long-forgotten gift card, recovered from New York’s Unclaimed Funds, and returned to her.
“Essentially they got my money out of jail, because I wasn’t using it and it was tied to my gift card,” Malvern said.
The writer and producer’s husband found her name doing a simple search on the state’s Unclaimed Funds website.
“I didn’t expect to be able to ever get the cash,” she said.
Malvern believes it was at least 7 years old.
After returning a necklace to the store she was issued a store credit, but never used it, and retailers are required by law to turn dormant accounts over to the state.
“We are seeing an increasing amount of money coming in from unused gift cards,” New York Comptroller Tom DiNapoli said.
The DiNapoli says the state’s unclaimed funds coffers are currently sitting on more than $28 million, just in unused gift card money recovered in 2025.
“The message we want to get out there is that if you get a gift card from a major retailer, register that gift card right up front because even if it’s turned over, if it’s registered and we have your contact information, it becomes easy for you to claim it as an unclaimed fund,” he said.
Comptroller DiNapoli also says if you return something and receive store credit or a gift card, make sure the retailer links it to your name and address, that way if you forget about it, it should be turned over unclaimed.
If you received Visa or Mastercard gift cards, be sure to create an account before activating your card. You stand a better chance of claiming that money one day if you don’t use it, or worse, lose it.
“Do you think a lot of people don’t even realize that?” Nina Pineda asked Comptroller DiNapoli.
“I think a lot of people probably see an expiration date and they just throw it out,” he said.
Malvern’s card wasn’t physically thrown out. Her 400 Tiffany blue bucks, worth a lot more than breakfast, were simply sitting in the state’s vault unclaimed.
The big takeaway:
Create an account and register your gift cards.If it’s for a store, load the card onto your account in the app.And it’s a good idea to take a photo of the card for safe keeping, that way it’s saved right in your camera roll.
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