mmg.com.au

Belinda Logan has spent plenty of time on her telephone the past three days.

The Shepparton police property manager said about 15 people had called her to claim a large amount of money found at an opportunity shop on Monday last week.

Two shop volunteers found the money inside a shoebox among a bag of men’s shoes while sorting through donations.

Ms Logan said the owner had three months to claim the money before the shop became its legal owner.

She said people had called claiming they had lost from $200 to $10000.

‘‘I’m finding a lot of elderly people (calling to claim the money),’’ she said.

‘‘I haven’t had any that are close. I thought we might have.

‘‘We need to know exactly how much money it is, what denominations it’s in and what it was actually found in.’’

Ms Logan said the money was not a donation to the opportunity shop.

She was confident the owner would claim the money.

‘‘The only other thing I’m thinking is maybe they have moved from Shepparton ... and they might not see (the money is missing),’’ she said.

‘‘Other times we’ve put (missing money stories) in the paper and there’s nothing, then family members are talking about something and remember seeing it in the paper.’’

The mystery money has created much discussion on The News’ Facebook page.

Investigators believe the shoes were placed in a charity bin sometime during the past month.

Anyone who believes the money could be theirs can phone Belinda Logan at the Shepparton Police Station on 58205752.