Reversal of Fortune
May 7, 2010 by Kathy McManus
An Australian newspaper recently asked readers what they would do if they found $100,000. Keep the money, or return it?
Far from hypothetical, the question was based on the current case of two Melbourne bargain-hunters who paid $15 for a cast-off suitcase at a Salvation Army thrift store, and later discovered $100,000 sewn in the lining. The suitcase had been donated by a woman who was unaware her husband had used the case to stash cash. The distraught woman contacted the thrift store, but the buyers were long gone.
Enter the police. Tracing the debit card used in the transaction, they found that the buyers — described in Australian press reports as a 43-year-old man and a 34-year-old woman — had deposited the money “into different bank accounts.” Police then charged the two with “theft by finding,” a criminal statute, according to the Herald Sun newspaper, used when people “find something of value, know it belongs to someone else, but decide to keep it anyway.”
More than half the readers who responded to the Sun’s poll, however, said they would not have returned the $100,000. “I probably would have kept it,” one man wrote. “I think it’s just like winning the lottery.”
Under similar circumstances, would you have returned the money?
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24 Comments
What do you think? Leave a comment
May 8, 2010 by sam
allthough i need the money badly, i would have to return it. it's simply the right thing to do. but i have never found that much money. i like to think i would return it. but who knows for sure until it happens. i hope i could do the right thing.
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June 21, 2010 by shirley murry
If I had fund any money I will give it back if it had a address on it if not I will keep it cause I really need it.
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August 28, 2010 by darlean wilson
if i found that much money i would proply keep it cause i really need it and i love keeping it real
September 1, 2010 by Thelma Williams
I want to do the right thing, but in all honesty, no one knows until they are in that situation.
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March 24, 2011 by myron g.wanty
looking for unclaimed money
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May 10, 2010 by Angela
I would have tried to find the owner. I don't know if I would have taken it back to the thrift shop (whomever it is returned to has to be trusted?) I would have delivered it to the police. It's exciting to fantasize about what I would do with the money, but reality is, I don't want to profit from someone else's loss. Once I found a wallet with $3500 in it in a parking lot. I returned it and the owner was so grateful. It was good Karma for me and a blessing for him. We need more of that!
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May 10, 2010 by DaVinci
When some casts off, abandons, or donates articles, they have surrendered their rights to the property. If someone pulls something from your trash and sells it on Ebay for a fortune, its their gain, your loss. Also if the police do not need a warrant to go through your trash at the curb since it is considered abandoned property.
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May 10, 2010 by Adam
I think that to arrest the couple that kept the money is the right thing to do because they know that 100,000 dollars is a lot of money and they know that there not doing the right thing by keeping it. I Think that for them to keep the money shows that they are selfish and that they are only thinking about themselves. If I had that much money and someone had it I wouldn't know what to do.
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September 16, 2010 by Ann L
I would think that if the man hid 100k in the breifcase that they were probably not broke. The couple didn't steel it they bought what was brought in for sale. I believe the cops were wrong to arrest, did they ask them to give it back and did the lady even try to offer them something in return? When I have donated to different charities I have on one occasion put in a $100 bill instead of a $10 but it would be total wrong for me to ask for it back. And trust me I'm in no shape to donate $100 bills!
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September 26, 2010 by PETER
The couple had a right to the money because they purchased the suitcase with the intent to use it. Therefore they had all rights that to use and keep the benefits of that suitcase. No law was broken and now its up to the police department to do the right thing and refund the money to the couple. The police department is the one that committed the crime robbing and arresting the couple for exercising their rights to the merchandise they purchased. Remember the suitcase was a DONATION INCLUDING THE MONEY.
May 11, 2010 by Sheryl
if I thought that there was any chance that the money could be returned to the rightful owner, of course I would return it but in this situation where items are donated by groups, individuals and businesses, I would assume that not to be the case and I would keep it.
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May 13, 2010 by Chelsey
If This was me and i was the one that accidentally donated my briefcase of money that my husband was stashing away i would be very upset if someone didn't turn in the money since it didn't belong to them. However if i was the one that found the money i think that my first instinct would be wow this is my lucky day but then my conscious would kick in and tell me hey wow this is a lot of money so obviously someone is going to realize they lost it and i could potentially get into a lot of trouble and i would end up turning the money in.
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May 13, 2010 by Casey
I honestly don’t know what I would do in the situation. I mean, if it was a huge amount of money I think I would hand it in without question, just because I know how long it takes to save up some money. On the other hand, I think if it’s fewer than 100 dollars and it’s like a populated area, I think it’s permissible to take the money. My grandmother (a saint of her time) found 20 dollars once, not a huge sum of money by any means, she went to the office at the hospital that she worked for and turned it in. They told her if nobody claimed it within a week that she could have it. A week went by and nobody came to pick up the lost money, and they gave the 20 dollars to my grandmother. She decided to purchase several t-shirts and then gave them to Goodwill. So I guess it just depends on the person you are. I think that if someone is the rightful owner, they should have the right to take it back.
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May 20, 2010 by Kat
I was raised to be honest, moral, ethical, responsible, reliable, in sum, to always follow the Golden Rule, do your best, obtain as much education and as many skills as you can to be more "employable", work your butt off and be loyal to your employer no matter what. All of the aforementioned, I was promised, would bring me the "American Dream", which of course it didn't.
I seem to have been mentally "programmed" to do the right thing, although others in my family don't seem to have this gene, and although I could use the money myself, I don't think the thought that I would even think of keeping it would ever enter my mind.
Thus, I would return it. Whether it was $10, $100, $1,000, $10,000, $100,000 or even $1,000,000, I would follow my instinct and not even consciously think of anything else but trying to find out whose money it was. I even "automatically" drive over or walk mail over to neighbors' homes that I received by mistake, because I think that's the best way to get their mail to them.
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June 1, 2010 by Nic99
Interesting dilemma with a common thread....
After reading the original story, my comments would follow a certain logic. (1) Obviously the woman who discarded the case at the thrift store was unaware of its contents because her husband kept it a secret from her... (2) Once he discovered what she had done, certainly they both froze with panic. (3) Why else would she have sought out the authorities in a attempt to locate the case? (4) Those who purchased the case and discovered the bounty likely went in to shock themselves over their new found fortune. (5) In both instances, a level of human emotion took over and events unfolded. (6) Obviously in Australia, there are laws in which such a windfall does not transfer to the "finder" but remains with he who lost it to begin with. (7) Both parties are to blame for exercising bad judgment. (8) The husband for not trusting his wife by informing her of the loot, (9) The couple for not following the law.
Each should carry with it a life lesson....
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June 8, 2010 by Kate Norris
No I would not have returned the money either. They did purchase the suitcase legally,so I would think that the contents within it belonged to the new owners. They had no prior knowledge the money was there. In theory "if you purchase an old vase in an Curio store or at a garage sale" and it turned out to be a priceless antique, are we expected to return it or keep it for ourselves? I purchased a dresser ounce and found $80.00 in an old envelope taped to the bottom of one of the drawers. I kept the dresser and the $80.00. And another thought: If I was the wife; I think Id be looking in other places for stashed cash and demand to know what the blazes was he up to stashing it in the first place?
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July 13, 2010 by Rhonda Boldery
I would definitely try & find the owners, not by disclosing the amount by calling the store where I purchased it and also the police. But the person would have to identify it & where it was found. As for this being a crime--I don't understand how these 2 people who legally now owned the suitcase & the contents could be charged? They did not steal it, they paid for it making it a legal transaction. Are we suppose to know the intricate details of the law? Should each one of us go to law school so as not to be arrested?????
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July 24, 2010 by Mark Cooper
I would have returned the money since a similar situation happened to me. I had hid a large amount of expensive jewelry for a past girlfriend who refused to put it in a safe deposit box or allow me to send it to her back east. When I moved I forgot to take the jewelry and when I went back to get it know one knew anything about it. Now it looks like I kept it.
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