Expert: Steven Taylor - 1/23/2012

Question
My Dad has received a number of letters from companies trying to get my Dad to claim stock certificates. We are now getting phone calls. How do companies know that someone has certificates and not claimed or transacted them? Is there a public on-line data base?

Answer
Elizabeth, there is no online data base, or any other data base, available to the public. The only ones that know who owns what shares are the individual transfer agents/registrars that maintain the official shareholder records on behalf of the public companies.

Depending on the jurisdiction, public companies are required to make an attempt to locate and contact "lost" shareholders periodically. Outside companies that specialize in this are often hired for the purpose. That is probably who is contacting your Dad. However, recently there has been a huge surge of for-profit freelancers doing the same thing and offering to obtain the missing stock for a cut of the action. I am not sure where they are getting their information, or even if it was obtained legally. If you have any doubts, I suggest you contact the Province of Ontario's Security Commission ("OSC") and inquire about the individual or companies contacting your Dad.