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$10 million deposited into your account, what would you do?

by lovelindstrom 21 May 2009 |

23 comments | Love

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A New Zealand couple have gone to ground after $10 million (NZD I presume) appeared in their bank account.
"The couple, who ran Rotorua service station BP Barnetts, are understood to have applied to Westpac Bank for a $10,000 overdraft and mistakenly had $10 million paid into their account."
Read the full article here

It seems like they ran off with as much as they could (some money has been retrieved). How likely are they to get caught? If a big chunk of money mistakenly appeared in your bank account overnight, what would you (or "someone else") do?

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Comments (23)

27

rowlystravel posted
i would move the money to a high interest account and leave it there until they ask for it, that way i could keep the interest which would be a lot of money! even for a short period of time...
other than that, i suppose a clean break to Rio would be nice, or maybe panama, apparantly its nice there!! just ask John Darwin :-)
Posted on 21 May 2009 | Love 0 loves Report
85

ckm4328 posted
I am afraid my morals in this regard only go as far as my fear of getting caught. If it was worth while say a few million and the chance of me getting caught was minimal I would take the money.
I would need to be confident of the following:
1) The money belonged to a big corporate entity
2) It was unlikely to cause significant hardship to an individual or group of individuals.
I'd like to say I wouldn't but I would just be lying.
Posted on 21 May 2009 | Love 2 loves Report
114

ThatLindseyGuy posted
Call the bank and the Police. Somebody is going to notice a missing 10 million.
Besides that, if the funds are found to be the proceeds of crime then money laundering regulations start to apply (penalties range from 5 years in prison for failure to report to 14 years for assisting).
Under the same money laundering framework, UK banks tend to identify unusual high-value transactions pretty swiftly.
Posted on 21 May 2009 | Love 1 love Report
21

loveWheel posted
id print off a bank statement and frame it
Posted on 21 May 2009 | Love 0 loves Report
62

TheWelshman posted
I think the thought of going to jail scares the hell out of me..
but hypothetically I would write a letter with cut out newspapers and hold the money to ransom and asking for a small donation to pay my mortgage off!
Possible have a photo of the money doing something dangerous like going into a 0% interest savings account to scare them.
Whats £150,000 between friends!
Posted on 21 May 2009 | Love 1 love Report
52

Dave posted
Get several new passports, new properties and go on the run for the rest of my days, hoping against hope it's not proceeds from some large scale crime, finally ending up in an old persons home on a rocking chair and a shot gun, waiting for either the grim spectre of death, the owners of the cash or my grandkids to show up.
...
Sounds like a good life choice to me ;)
Posted on 21 May 2009 | Love 0 loves Report
27

rowlystravel posted
that linsdayguy you are such a fighter!!!! where is the crime? the crime is only committed if you refuse to give the $10m back... money laundering is hiding the origination of the money which is also not happening, neither are you layering or integration... don't be such a sourpuss :-) its only a bit of fun
Posted on 21 May 2009 | Love 0 loves Report
114

ThatLindseyGuy posted
Rowlys> LOL I'll take that as a compliment. Agreed, placing/layering/integration is a tough sell. But if i were a prosecution lawyer trying to make this year's bonus, that 'failure to report' charge would look very promising.
Posted on 21 May 2009 | Love 0 loves Report
32

ben posted
Disappointed to discover that NZD$10m is only £3.8m - that would only just get you one of these. May as well just give it back.
Posted on 21 May 2009 | Love 0 loves Report
37

lovebunny posted
TLG, rowlys -- are we seeing the formation of some kind of Superman/Lex Luthor arch-rival situation? Bring it on! ;-)
If I have to choose I'm with TLG on this one -- crime, she just don't pay. And ten million misplaced dollars is going to end up looking like a crime to the bank, the police, or both.
Anyway, I'd be rubbish at going to ground. Besides missing friends and family too much to amke a clean break of it, I'd be so excited at my newfound fugitive status that I'd give the game away at the first opportunity ("does this hotel do free upgrades for people on the lam? well don't tell anyone but..." etc).
lovebunny
Posted on 21 May 2009 | Love 0 loves Report
21

loveWheel posted
lovebunny, you would be rubbish at going to ground. you'd probably twitter about it
Posted on 21 May 2009 | Love 0 loves Report
37

lovebunny posted
A girl's gotta know her weaknesses...
Posted on 21 May 2009 | Love 0 loves Report
0

Chike posted
I would probably not do anything about it because I hardly check my bank balance as I have my own accounting sheet. So wouldnt even have a clue
Posted on 21 May 2009 | Love 0 loves Report
824

MikeGG1 posted
As my account does still give interest, I would borrow Nelson's telescope for about a month but then notify the bank by snail mail (2nd class post) and hope they lost the letter. I would then have done my civic duty and could sleep comfortably at night.
Shame it is NZD!
Mike
Posted on 21 May 2009 | Love 0 loves Report
83

SmudgeButt posted
Call the bank and the Police. Somebody is going to notice a missing 10 million.
You would think they might notice but they might not. There was a story in the papers a few years back about the UN paying 1 million US each month to an account for some department. One month someone made a mistake and changed a digit on the account number and the 1 mil started going into the bank account for some luck chap who ran a little laundrette.
He never spent the money but put it in a high interest account and waited for someone to claim it. It was 3 YEARS before the auditors at the UN noticed the error and requested the money back. He didn't argue and handed the money back but kept the interest. Assuming he was getting 5% (probably got more) I calculate he would have made a bit less then 3 million by the time he gave the cash back. Nice work if you can get it.
Posted on 22 May 2009 | Love 0 loves Report
53

Carl posted
I hear Tuscany is nice this time of year :-)
Posted on 22 May 2009 | Love 0 loves Report
27

rowlystravel posted
hopefully the kind people at my bank will give me the $10mil and i'll get back to you all !!! :-) TLG there's no rivalry, i like a bit of banter thats all!!! think of it as posting for points haha
Posted on 22 May 2009 | Love 0 loves Report
0

Nosht posted
Finder's reward = 10%, I'd be happy with that.

Regards,

N.

P.S. A few years ago (in Scotland) a bookie had his bank account credited by mistake with £50,000 instead of the £500 he paid in.
He tried to fight this & ended up in serious trouble with the tax people as he could not account for the extra money.
Posted on 24 May 2009 | Love 0 loves Report
1

saddenedatthestateoftheworld posted
I'd take the money and run! - as far away from this so called 'civilised' society in which we live. I'd go to a 'third world' country or two, and donate small amounts to as many individuals as possible, to enable them to become self sufficient in the traditional ways of the country in which they lived. Hopefully along the way I'd find a community which would allow me to settle and live with them as they live - simply, and with respect for nature.
Posted on 24 May 2009 | Love 1 love Report
48

bengilda posted
Add "Hon" before my name, add "MP " after it, then happily spend it all. After this I would say "Sorry, I made a mistake but the rules say "finders - keepers".
Posted on 24 May 2009 | Love 0 loves Report
416

Mike10613 posted
I would put it in a high interest account for a couple of years at a fixed rate of around 5% and tell the bank it was "clearing" and give it them back afterwards. They do it with cheques I pay into my account and have done for years.
Posted on 26 August 2009 | Love 0 loves Report
18

poppasmurf posted
Hi,

There is no set presidence in law for this situation, even though the tv news says there is there isnt. Im sure a law boffin can find the single case in the huge encyclopedia of law that exists Ive forgottewn the name of it..

I would keep it. Put it in a high interest account in the Kamens.

I would give some to charitys for the homeless and other worth while charities like my family.

I know some one who was incorrectly paid she ended up with £250K for a months work not bad must be like being Tony Blair. ha ha.
Posted on 24 November 2009 | Love 0 loves Report
18

poppasmurf posted
Come to think of it, this has happened to me before, it wasnt millions npor thousands
I received a payment of £180. I phoned up the organisation about this payment .
They couldnt find any record of the money being sent to me in any form so they said keep it as we cant request you to pay back something they had no record of given out. Another government organisation muck up.
Posted on 24 November 2009 | Love 0 loves Report