Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/09/09/couple-arrested-after-spending.html
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Seems like as good a time as any to pull a “Smokey and the Bandit.”
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Well, hope they had a fun shopping spree. That enjoyment is something that they can always cherish.
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I’m sure justice would have been equally swift, had the error been in favor of the bank.
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An interesting case from Germany: someone got lot of money by accident, didn’t think about it and left it at that. After a long while, the accident was discovered. Turns out she was not obligated to inform anyone, and there is a Verjährungsfrist (quite long, if I remember correctly) so she didn’t have to give the money back!
I’m not sure I remember the details correctly, but think that was about wrongly deposited tax returns?
I’ll look it up and post details.
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The true treasure were the memories they created.
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And use the money to ship a truckload of Coors from Texas to Georgia?
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So the lesson here is you have to commit. Grab the cash and head out of the country. Change your name and grow a beard. Fake your death. None of this wishy-washy spend it on cool(?) stuff and wait for them to catch their error.
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Well, shoot. I always figured I was in the clear, but now I’m going to have to worry about the Milton Bradley debt collectors tracking me down.
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Possession is 9/10ths of the law, as they say.
The money was in their bank account which is a strong indicator that it is their money.
Would be really interesting to see if this goes to the Supreme Court.
Wouldn’t have hurt to have played dumb. “What money? Can you prove it was ever there in the first place? Or that in fact it went anywhere?”
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Anything mailed to you is yours to keep, right? So request the bank issue a cashier’s check and mail it your way before anyone notices.
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Seriously? That part of the charge just makes no sense. Spending it if they knew it wasn’t theirs could (maybe) be considered theft, but they had absolutely no choice about initially receiving it.
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Heroes, I say HEROES, I love these people!
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The police can at least be counted on to take the bankers, from teller to president, downtown for questioning.
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This is what stood out to me, too. It seems like someone was searching for something to charge them with.
Also, if this couple received stolen property, who stole it, and what consequences will that party face?
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Roll the money into something safe that pays interest, but doesn’t penalize too much for withdrawal. When the bank finally asks, return the money, keep the interest.
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I know they weren’t the kind of people to think of this…but the plan should have been to withdraw the $120k and throw it into any investment vehicle they could. Then we the bank eventually comes after the mistakenly distributed funds, you stall as long as humanely possible and then give back the original monies and keep whatever profits you made (which they legally cannot touch).
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Here’s the liability and cause of the resulting charges. They should have used some of that $ on a legal consult.
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Any FDIC (or similar) insured, guaranteed to not go down investment vehicle.
It’s boring and low return.
But, putting it all in the stock market or some other effective gambling for a higher return could also have a loss and still be a problem. Best be safe. 
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