View Full Version : What would you do?
http://www.smh.com.au/victoria/100000-left-stashed-inside-salvation-army-store-suitcase-20100406-roeh.html
CheGuevara
07-04-10, 11:01 AM
Same as a dropped wallet etc- would have tried to find the rightful owner. Actually I would have reported it to the police as I'd be a bit concerned about what sort of person might have hid it in a suitcase and then come looking for it.
Take it to the dry cleaners to get it laundered and used it as and when.
Or keep it, and use the notes to do all my shopping, paying in cash. You keep your legal money in the bank and distribute the used notes. ;)
El Saxo
07-04-10, 11:07 AM
Looks like they were only traced cos they used a card to pay for it.
So personally I'd use cash to buy stuff from charity shops from now on! :twisted:
AndyBrad
07-04-10, 11:44 AM
spend it !!! pay of debt.
they purchased it so legally its theirs?
spend it !!! pay of debt.
they purchased it so legally its theirs?
+1
CheGuevara
07-04-10, 11:56 AM
they purchased it so legally its theirs?
"Police have charged a couple with 'theft by finding'"
- Apparently not according to Oz law.
If the money hadn't been from drugs etc, then I'd be concerned that my bit of luck meant screwing some other person out of their life savings. If I didn't earn it, didn't win it, or it wasn't knowingly given to me, then it isn't mine to keep (morally).
Bluefish
07-04-10, 07:17 PM
Ah but if you find 50p in the street do you go and hand it in?, so if you find 50k do you hand that in?, where is the line.:confused:
Ah but if you find 50p in the street do you go and hand it in?, so if you find 50k do you hand that in?, where is the line.:confused:
anything above £100 grand I hand in :-)
yorkie_chris
07-04-10, 07:48 PM
The owners fault for selling the case IMO. Though I would probably not keep it.
Basically the case was worth more than they thought... does this mean if someone sells an antique to a charity shop, and someone buys it then realises it's worth a fortune they are a thief?
Milky Bar Kid
07-04-10, 10:16 PM
Hmmmm, certainly regarding the charge of theft by finding, if it was here, I would argue that the charge isn't competent because they have rightfully bought the case.
Although, personally, I wouldn't have kept the money, it would just feel wrong!
If the money hadn't been from drugs etc, then I'd be concerned that my bit of luck meant screwing some other person out of their life savings. If I didn't earn it, didn't win it, or it wasn't knowingly given to me, then it isn't mine to keep (morally).
Agree with this. Couldn't live with knowingly profiting from someone else's loss. Seems to be a genuine mistake, and shouldn't cost them what could be their life's savings. These people appear to be trying to help others by donating unwanted stuff to the Salvation Army, so they really shouldn't get screwed over it, imho.
Biker Biggles
08-04-10, 11:09 AM
You could have a wicked night out down St Kilda for that:cool:
Sore d1ck a few days later though:(
I've got a lot of morals, but sod that, if I found about £40k, then i'd keep stumph.
I can already see a few bikes lining the garage, maybe even build a whole new garage with it for the new bikes :lol:
ceeshaw
09-04-10, 09:39 PM
How would you know who to give it back to??
I can't imagine the Salvation Army keep records of donors. How would you know that the clerk at the store might not just keep it for himself? How'd you know it wouldn't just be locked up 'in evidence' with nobody claiming it? How'd you know it's not Lady Luck shining down on you...?
I'd keep it... in the case exactly like I found it. Then I'd tell the store I found 'some money' in it and leave my details for the rightful owner to contact me and supply proof that it was theirs. Then... if I'd not heard anything in 6 months, I'd put it in the bank and just spend the interest for a while... then I might just spend it on some toys.
Personally I would buy a new bike and then deal with getting the money back to its owner. They wouldn't be told about the new bike. The wouldnt exactly complain would they! They'd be getting 90% of it back.
I always reverse the situation. If I lost 100k, id want most of it back.
beabert
09-04-10, 10:32 PM
Id wait find out whos money is was and what the story was behind it. Id happily hand it back to the owner unless it was drug money or something, not sure what id do if it was, police?
I'd hand in to the Police, and tell the Sali army shop.
If it eventually ended up being mine I'd give most of it to my kids.
Specialone
10-04-10, 07:33 AM
They bought it in good faith, like someone said if it turned out to be mega valuable thats not your fault is it.
In only fools and horses (time on our hands) del bought a maritime watch in a house clearance which turned out to be worth millyons, is that wrong?
I would have to give it back though as im a believer in Karma, if i didnt i'd get some other **** another day.
My mother-in-law drifts in and out of mad as a box of frogs and sensible.
We're dealing with banks, solicitors and various companies who she's spending her savings with on a weekly basis, and she loses money every week - you wouldn't believe some of the things she's got up to.
On the off chance this case has ended up being handed in by someone like mum-in-law...
Red Herring
10-04-10, 07:53 AM
When you find something the law requires you to make reasonable enquiries to try and locate the original owner. If you found a tenner lying in the road, held it above your head and said "anybody lost this" then I suspect that you might get quite a few people responding, so that wouldn't be reasonable. If on the other hand you found it on the floor in your office where there are only two or three other people about and you said "anybody lost any money" then that would be.
In this case the couple should have reported their find to the police and just told the shop that if the owners of the suitcase were to come in asking about it they should be told to go to the local police station. That way every eventuality would have been covered (drug dealers wouldn't have gone to the police and they wouldn't have been able to beat the details out of the shop keeper)) and their actions would have been reasonable. 28 days later (in UK law) they would have been able to keep the money if not claimed.
metalangel
10-04-10, 08:12 AM
It's only $100,000 Ozmalian dollars, which is what, £3.17?
yorkie_chris
10-04-10, 09:05 AM
I always reverse the situation. If I lost 100k, id want most of it back.
Perfectly reasonable.
They should put something in that law to encourage people to hand things in, as it stands there is only the stick... More people would be honest if it was some deal like "hand it in, and if it's claimed you keep 10%".
vBulletin® , Copyright ©2000-2025, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.