Unfortunately, it's real. (In California, the focal point of the story). They do make slightly more effort than shown there however. Lists of unclaimed accounts are published in the major papers annually, then the papers point out that OJ Simpson, the State Treasurer, etc appear in the lists. Then everybody forgets about it until next year.
They also mail a notice to the account holder, but it goes to the bank's last address of record for the customer.
My disabled veteran Brother-In-Law (brain injury, Vietnam era - we've been helping him ever since) started getting letters from a shyster attorney who studies the published lists and offers to help recover the money for a percentage, I think 25%. We investigated and found BIL has a couple of forgotten bank accounts worth about $4k that are on the lists. Plus he told us he has many uncashed stock dividend checks in small amounts - BIL isn't quite up to dealing with them and fiercely resists family's attempts to learn about his savings. So far none of us has overcome his objections and persuaded him to claim his lost savings, much less reorganize his savings so that everything is on automatic deposit. His parents used to take care of that stuff, now he won't let anyone know the details.
What's missing in the process is a government office to read the contents of the strongboxes, look up people on the Internet, etc. I read somewhere a small and badly underfunded office exists for this but when it's annual budget is gone, that's the end of their effort. The legislature won't give them more funding. They say that office is a waste of tax dollars since everyone has a legal obligation to read public notices!