Around £1.6billion of estates is going unclaimed after the Government pulled a website listing individuals who did not make a will, experts have said.
The 'bona vacantia' list - Latin for 'ownerless goods' - was used by people to check if distant relatives had unclaimed property and other assets for which there was no immediately apparent heir.
However, a BBC investigation revealed that it was being used by criminal gangs to commit fraud by posing as the sole heir to unclaimed fortunes - depriving living relatives of their rightful inheritance.
It published the results in a podcast called The Grave Robbers - and a day after the series was released, the Treasury yanked the list from public view. It is unclear when it will be published again.
UK law firm Weightmans suggested the net worth of Britain's unclaimed estates was around £1.6billion, based on the approximately 6,000 outstanding fortunes that were unclaimed at the time, and a then-average property price of £281,000.
