A WALLET lost for almost 25 years has been returned to its owner the same day a fortune cookie predicted the same fate.

American man Burton Maugans from Acworth in Cobb County, Georgia, lost the wallet in the water while waterskiing on a family holiday in the small coastal town of Bolivia, North Carolina, 24 years ago.

"It was in the Intracoastal Waterway," the 44-year-old told ABCNews.com.

"I was skiing and there was no point in looking for it."

Maugans said that was in 1988 or 1989 when he was a college student.

Then about two weeks ago he received a call from a stranger, Jim Parker, who had found the wallet while walking with his wife along the shore of Holden Beach, about 20 miles from where the wallet was lost.

That same day while Maugans was at having Chinese food for lunch, he'd opened a fortuitous fortune cookie which said "A small lucky package is on its way to you soon".

"I'm not a big believer in fortune cookies but I just thought it was interesting," he told ABCNews.com.

After finding the wallet, the Parkers rinsed it off and dried it out dry out to find Maugans' IDs still intact.

They then tracked him down online and posted the wallet back to him.

Maugans, who then posted the photos on Reddit, said the paper items in Maugans' wallet were gone, but his college and high school IDs, driver's license, library card and ATM card were all there, intact.

"I appreciate Jim sending it to me," Maugans said. "Most people would have probably seen that there was no money in it and thrown it aside, I'd imagine."

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