What would you do??

[A Mum]

I'm sure most of you have seen the story this week where a NZ couple were paid millions into their bank account by error, as it should have only been thousands.

So what did they do....
Withdrew all the money out and left the country !!
Now with the police obviously after them.

http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/stor ... 01,00.html

Sooooo that leads me to ask...
What would you do if you had a large amount of money paid into your bank accout like that?

Have you had a similar expereince??

About 12 years ago I worked for a bank and they accidently paid me $29,000 for a fortnight pay
So it has happened to me in some proportion before

[JK]

Well you never really know until it happens I'd suggest, but as a guess I'd hold onto it without spending it, until such time as I'm contacted about it.

Despite the wealth, this couple who recently hit the jackpot will spend the rest of their lives looking over their shoulders ... No way to live a life IMHO

[Booney]

Keep it in your bank account and when the bank discovers the error tell them they can have the money back in exchange for the interest that money has gathered in your account.

Regardless of where the money came from or who is really belongs to the bank would be paying interest so I would expect that to easily recover $10m they would ( perhaps not happily ) give you some sort of reward.

There is no way in hell I would make a run for it and in turn no way I would give it back for nothing in return.

[mighty_tiger_79]

make a run for it and hit the race courses and casinos in hong kong

or be sensible and transfer it into an account with a nice interest rate, so you can build the interest until the bank calls ya, like Booney suggested

[Pseudo]

Have you had a similar expereince??

I was responsible for the bank account of a club at one of the local universities. One day I got a letter from the bank informing me that $8000 or so had been transferred into the account from the Bank of China. I contacted the bank and asked them to look into it. I was more than happy to accept the money on behalf of the club from a mystery benefactor, but in reality I thought it we had been unwilling participants in some money-laundering scheme. I was too scared to touch the money in case I was later confronted by a couple of hatchet-wielding Tong henchmen...

8 or 9 months later I was contacted by someone from the university, who was ringing around all the clubs, because she had a very distressed asian student in her office who had deposited her money into the wrong account. All they knew was that it was one of the club accounts. So eventually the mistake got fixed.

The club actually benefited by one or two hundred bucks out of this mistake. The exchange rate changed in our favour over the course of the 8 months, and we got a nice chunk of interest while it had been sitting in our account too.


Second story: when I started my current job, my first few pay packets were noticeably higher than I had been expecting. On investigation it appeared that I was getting overpaid to the tune of about $20K a year. I got onto Human Resources to get this fixed, and was told (after some investigation) that I was indeed getting paid the right amount. I insisted that it was wrong and she checked again. This time she spoke to the right people and the mistake was discovered. I had to repay the sum that I had been overpaid; they did this by withholding some cash from my next pay. Good thing I got this sorted just before the end of the financial year; there would have been serious tax issues had it been fixed afterwards.


As for the Kiwi couple... doubt that I would do a runner if I found myself in that situation, I am too honest. Though I might be a little less honest if I had been up to the eyeballs in debt like them. I say good luck to 'em; about time a bank got screwed by a customer for a change.

[mighty_tiger_79]

i might donate it to the GFC's of the world

[dedja]

I'd spend the first $1M on Mrs silicone skyline ...

[mal]

I had $4800 deposited into my account 20 years ago
I saw it on the statement about 2 weeks later
A person owed me $4500 at the time
I assumed that he deposited and gave me $300 extra [tip ???]
About 3 days later I caught up with the person, thanked him and asked why the extra $300
He denied depositing that $$$
I immediately contacted the Bank to inform them of the error
Yes, I had been credited with $$$ meant for another account holder

I have no regrets returning that $$$ it was not mine

Earler this year I had an extra $2500 in my account from a corporate Bookie
They resulted some races wrong and overpaid me
I immediately contacted them to inform them of the error
I was given a free $100 bet by the bookie


As for the NZ couple running off with the Loot
I hope they get caught
If they get prosecuted serves em right

[Wedgie]

make a run for it and hit the race courses and casinos in hong kong

There's no casinos in Hong Kong mate, all gambling except for at the track is illegal.
But not far to go to Macau which is only 60kms away and has casinos.

[JK]

I'd spend the first $1M on Mrs silicone skyline ...

[mighty_tiger_79]

macau thats the joint i was trying to think of!!

[Zelezny Chucks]

Just make sure you punt in James Packer owned casino's over there!!

Kerry would be so proud...

[SABRE]

This actually happened to me 10 to 15 years ago.
Hundreds of dollars kept going into an account I occasionaly used.
The bank mixed up my account with someone having a similar name, and every few weeks their
pay cheque went into my account. I immediately informed the bank about the problem, for which
they seemed very grateful, but it kept on happening. The other person, who's funds I received,
obviously didn't need the money, as they, apparently, didn't contact the bank once.

I kept telling the bank what was happening and told them it was becoming impossible for me to
tell what was mine and what was not, with all the transactions taking place. I got so fed up with
it all, I warned the bank that I would withdraw all the funds and close the account if they didn't
do something about their continuing errors. They said, fine. I said, what about the 'not so poor'
bastard they were short changing? They said they'd have to re-imburse them.

When they continued to make the same mistake, I thought about all the fees I'd paid. All the
lousy interest. All the time I'd wasted in their friggin' queues and thought STUFF IT !
I warned them once more, then closed the account, pocketed the funds & slept very soundly.

I sure hope the other account holder gave them a mouthful when they hit 'em for their money !

The bank in question is no longer trading.
I wonder why ?

[smac]

I'd be on the phone in a flash and hand it back.

I was a teller many moons ago and through a bit of lazy work I deposited 300 $10 notes to someones account when they had handed me $300 of $10 notes. one zero, $2,700 difference. I was grilled by the auditors, senior managers and my own manager for a while then had to pay back a percentage of the error because the customer didn't fess up - in fact they insisted they actually deposited $3,000 that day. Bastards.

Imagine what the poor sod who accidentally shifted the decimal point feels right now?

[A Mum]

I'd be on the phone in a flash and hand it back.

I was a teller many moons ago and through a bit of lazy work I deposited 300 $10 notes to someones account when they had handed me $300 of $10 notes. one zero, $2,700 difference. I was grilled by the auditors, senior managers and my own manager for a while then had to pay back a percentage of the error because the customer didn't fess up - in fact they insisted they actually deposited $3,000 that day. Bastards.

Imagine what the poor sod who accidentally shifted the decimal point feels right now?

I did read an article where he/she is beside themselves and even receiving counselling.
It would be horrific knowing that you had given someone millions of dollars by accident!

And I also can relate to this part of it.
Working in a branch of a bank where we exchanged foriegn currency about 20 times a day.
One day this lady came in and I exchanged her currency,
unfortunately I got the note wrong and hence had the wrong exchange rate.
I had given her about $900 too much without knowing it.
I had the bank manager knock on my door at 6pm that night asking if I remember the transaction/customer (As I said, small town..lol)
The bank managed to 'track' her down as it was a 'small place' we were in and recovered the money.
She knew the whole time, and was going to slip out of town quietly as she thought she had 'got away with it'

[JAS]

I'm afraid I'd tell the bank...but then I'm also the sort who never tries to take more than they should through Customs either...too convinced I'd get caught.

I know in this case it appears to be the bank mistakenly adding some 0's but I'd be thinking that by holding onto the money some poor bugger who it should have gone to could be going out of business or losing their home because of the delay it would cause.

Regards
JAS

[another grub]

depending on my financial situation and where I was at in my life. 10 years ago I would have run with the coin..... couldnt do it to little grub now tho.

A life on the run with millions is the stuff dreams are made of (see the movies).

[JK]

depending on my financial situation and where I was at in my life. 10 years ago I would have run with the coin..... couldnt do it to little grub now tho.

A life on the run with millions is the stuff dreams are made of (see the movies).

It's questionable as to how long someone could remain hidden on Hanson Rd mate

[another grub]

there are a few good hidin spots along the strip. I remember hiding one night in a front yard in bushes pissed when a few bikies turned back after my mate hurled abuse at them when they first drove past. thought they were going to roll me for sure.

[A Mum]

It also says they are on the run with their (her) daughter.

Thing is, it says they withdrew the millions.
So what did they do with it??
Not as if they could go into the bank and walk out with it.
Must have transfered it into another account.

So I'd say it's only a matter of time before they are caught,
Therefore they obviously didn't think of the child.