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what would you do if you found a large sum of money?

B

br.avery

macrumors regular
Original poster
Dec 1, 2008
108
0
i found it outside my driveway in a ziplock bag.

i don't know what to do with it.

it's all in benjamins.

i dont know why but i feel so so so guilty if i keep it for myself, i know that someone worked reallllly hard for it.

there's an evil side of me that wants me to go on a shopping spree and another part of me that wants me to search for who's it is and do my best to find that person to give it back.

what should i do?
 
I believe if you turn it into the police and nobody claims it after a certain time period it becomes yours. Don't quote me on that, but it would likely be a good way to absolve your guilt.
 
Large sums of money sitting in ziplock bags on a street? Okay... not an everyday occurrence... but you should probably go to the police.

WITHOUT removing the money from the bags or handling the money, take the bag to the police and have them check to see if it's authentic. I could imagine somebody doing this with counterfeit bills just to be an ******.

If the bills are real, have the police hold onto it for a week or two. If nobody claims the money, you'll most likely have the rights to it. (Not so sure about that, check with your local PD.)

If everything checks out, the money's real and nobody claims it, I'll give you my email address... I accept PayPal and bank transfers... ;)
 
Large sum of money, 100s, in a zip locked bag.

FWIW, it sounds like money from some sort of illegal activity. Most folks I know, do not keep money in zip locked bags.

As some have said, the Police may be the best option.

Tread carefully.
 
Its tempting but I think you should call it into the police.
 
In a fantasy world I would buy a tricked out Mac Pro with 3 cinema displays, anything new announced tomorrow at Macworld or some Coach high tops. But in reality, I would definitely go to the police. You never know who's money that was and if they come back looking for it, are pissed off about it, and don't find it.... well people are just plain nuts... especially about money.
 
put it all on Red at roulette and if it wins give half of it to the PD:p

Nah, just take it the cop shop, if it is drug money no one will claim it. so it will be all yours.

then you might get shot for stealing it
 
Wirelessly posted (Nokia 5800 XpressMusic Hornay: Mozilla/5.0 (SymbianOS/9.4; U; Series60/5.0 Nokia5800d-1/10.0.010; Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 ) AppleWebKit/413 (KHTML, like Gecko) Safari/413)

Well, you did say it was on your driveway. If they know approximately where they lost it, you'll be in trouble. Perhaps it's best to notify the police. Also, tell them what I just said, and that you're concerned about your family's safety.
 
Okay, I admit, the bag was mine. There should have been two of them. Each with 100s clipped 10 per for a total of 200 100s in each bag.

I will PM you my particulars so you can send it to me. :D
 
Start a game of monopoly, but quietly swap all of your pretend money for the real deal, and enjoy the looks on everyone else's faces.
 
Turn it into the cops, and if you're lucky then no one will claim it within the standard amount of holding time, after which it will be yours and you'll have a clear conscience. If you turn it in to the cops, here are the possible outcomes:

A) A person in need reclaims it and acts grateful to you for basically saving their life.

B) A reasonably well off person claims it and gives you a very small reward which you get to spend and also feel good about morally.

C) A reasonably well off person claims it and gives you no reward.

D) No one claims the money and after a waiting period you get all the money and get to spend it with a clear conscience.

E) The cops "claim" it is drug money and keep it for themselves.

Some of those are good outcomes, and some suck, but your only other alternative is to keep the money and then feel guilty for the rest of your life, wondering whether the person who lost that money was in dire need. You'll never be able to enjoy what you bought with that money if every time you look at your new MacBook you get a feeling of guilt in your belly.
 
The money isn't yours. So the decision should be easy.
(although I've never been in this situation and therefore I can say its easy and have no idea what I'm talking about)

Do the right thing. :D
 
2 to 1 its drug money. Do what you want with it. Can't pay bills with it, can't put it in your bank.
 
motulist said:
Turn it into the cops, and if you're lucky then no one will claim it within the standard amount of holding time, after which it will be yours and you'll have a clear conscience. If you turn it in to the cops, here are the possible outcomes:

A) A person in need reclaims it and acts grateful to you for basically saving their life.

B) A reasonably well off person claims it and gives you a very small reward which you get to spend and also feel good about morally.

C) A reasonably well off person claims it and gives you no reward.

D) No one claims the money and after a waiting period you get all the money and get to spend it with a clear conscience.

E) The cops "claim" it is drug money and keep it for themselves.

Some of those are good outcomes, and some suck, but your only other alternative is to keep the money and then feel guilty for the rest of your life, wondering whether the person who lost that money was in dire need. You'll never be able to enjoy what you bought with that money if every time you look at your new MacBook you get a feeling of guilt in your belly.
Click to expand...


Eh, that all sounded great until E came along...
 
br.avery said:
i found it outside my driveway in a ziplock bag.

i don't know what to do with it.

it's all in benjamins.

i dont know why but i feel so so so guilty if i keep it for myself, i know that someone worked reallllly hard for it.

there's an evil side of me that wants me to go on a shopping spree and another part of me that wants me to search for who's it is and do my best to find that person to give it back.

what should i do?
Click to expand...

Report it to the police...
if no-one claims it thirty days later,
they'll hand it back to you cause it'll be legally yours!!
 
First I would count it.

Enough to be killed over if tracked back to me (high 5 figures)? Gut wrencher, but probably keep it.

Enough not to be killed over if tracked back to me. Keep it for sure.

In all honesty some sort of altruistic behavior (however small) would encroach and I would probably keep most of it for around 10 days just trying to see if someone "trustworthy" would admit to losing it from the neighborhood.

How much we talking here OP?
 
just buy a fully loaded mac pro with 2 30" LCD's and be done with it :D
then hand in the few cents change to the police and say you found it :)

incidentally, how much was there anyway?
 
Keep it.

Search the bushes to make sure the FBI, CIA, NSA, EPA, crips, bloods, etc etc aren't watching. Then, go to your bank and make a small deposit. Around 1k-2k. Do this everything few weeks.

Just curious but, how many bills would you say are in there? Sure it just isn't a benjamin wrapped around George's?


Or take it to the police and we will see if the old tale of them giving it back to your after 90 days is true. Bastards will probably make you sign a tax form on it.
 
What kind of neighborhood do you live in?

To be honest - If I though it was drug money, I'd keep it. If it was in a bank envelope, purse or other respectable storage container, I'd try to find the owner.

If a standard ziplock bag, it can't be much more than $30k. Are the wads in a roll and rubber banded? If so, drug money.

First thing I'd do is hide it and lay low. See if your local wino comes around looking like he's lost his last bottle of Olde E 800. Maybe it's his - or a reasonable facsimile.:)

Do you live near any of Bernie Madoff's friends? Hear he's been sending some packages and maybe it fell loose. The post office ain't what it used to be you know.
 
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