BRADENTON, Fla. - It seemed like every time 88-year-old Barbara checked her mail, she had another letter from a law firm or a private investigator, all offering to help her claim money they said she was owed, in exchange for part of the proceeds.

"They did offer money and all I had to do was reply, and I was very suspicious of that, because nobody gives money away," Barbara said.

The backstory:

She got suspicious and called the Bradenton Police Department last month.

"What Barbara did was brilliant," Detective Jim Curulla of BPD's elder fraud division, said. "Before she acted, she called a trusted source."

In those mail piles, Curulla found a letter from the Florida Department of Financial Services telling her she actually did have money waiting for her – $108,000.

"Thirty years

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