Poll: You come across a broken ATM...
- Thread starter tippy2k2
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If there was no way I could get caught then yeah I would keep it. Have enough issues to deal with, might feel a little bad but then I'll remember it is an atm that belongs to some giant faceless bank.
Another one of my true stories....
This was about umm, ten years ago. I was having a bad month for money, unexpected expenses, no OT at work it was kind
of hard. I was in a mall, and it was a time of day when almost no-one was around. I needed some quarters for laundry,
so I took the $5 bill that was the last cash in my wallet and put it in a change machine. The machine spit out some
quarters. I took the quarters and turned to go. I heard the machine spit some more quarters in to it's change cup. I thought that it must not have given me the whole $5 in the first batch, and scooped the newly-released quarters out.
The machine immediately dispensed more quarters. I scooped them up. This continued for a while, until my pocket was
really heavy with all the change (I think that the only thing that stopped it was the machine running out of quarters).
It was clear that this was a mistake/glitch and waaaay more than the $5 I had put in.I went to the mall information desk, and asked who I could contact about a problem with the change machine. Got all the usual evasions (they're not ours, the
guy who works on them won't be in for a week, etc....) and was finally told that there should be a phone # printed on
the machine itself that was a contact # for problems. I searched the machine up & down & finally found a number (I had to
lie on the floor and jam my head against a wall to position one eye to see it). I called the number. It was disconnected/no longer in service. I double-checked the number. It was correct. I went back to the mall information desk and informed the young man there about the number. He was sympathetic, but said there was nothing he could do but pass my information on to the guy who did maintenance on the machines when he came the next week. As I gave him my information he asked "So did it take your money?" I replied "No, I put in $5 and I think it gave me about $25 in quarters." He stared at me open-mouthed for a moment and then said "That's not a problem, that's a lucky strike! Just keep it!"
I told him that I couldn't do that, and asked him to give my information to the maintenance person when he came.
When I got home I counted the quarters. It was over $55 that the machine had actually given me. I took my $5 out, and
put the rest in a jar kept separate from my money so that I could return the correct amount when contacted.
After 3 months without contact (and one more try calling the defunct phone #) I finally decided that fair was fair,
and kept the quarters.
of hard. I was in a mall, and it was a time of day when almost no-one was around. I needed some quarters for laundry,
so I took the $5 bill that was the last cash in my wallet and put it in a change machine. The machine spit out some
quarters. I took the quarters and turned to go. I heard the machine spit some more quarters in to it's change cup. I thought that it must not have given me the whole $5 in the first batch, and scooped the newly-released quarters out.
The machine immediately dispensed more quarters. I scooped them up. This continued for a while, until my pocket was
really heavy with all the change (I think that the only thing that stopped it was the machine running out of quarters).
It was clear that this was a mistake/glitch and waaaay more than the $5 I had put in.I went to the mall information desk, and asked who I could contact about a problem with the change machine. Got all the usual evasions (they're not ours, the
guy who works on them won't be in for a week, etc....) and was finally told that there should be a phone # printed on
the machine itself that was a contact # for problems. I searched the machine up & down & finally found a number (I had to
lie on the floor and jam my head against a wall to position one eye to see it). I called the number. It was disconnected/no longer in service. I double-checked the number. It was correct. I went back to the mall information desk and informed the young man there about the number. He was sympathetic, but said there was nothing he could do but pass my information on to the guy who did maintenance on the machines when he came the next week. As I gave him my information he asked "So did it take your money?" I replied "No, I put in $5 and I think it gave me about $25 in quarters." He stared at me open-mouthed for a moment and then said "That's not a problem, that's a lucky strike! Just keep it!"
I told him that I couldn't do that, and asked him to give my information to the maintenance person when he came.
When I got home I counted the quarters. It was over $55 that the machine had actually given me. I took my $5 out, and
put the rest in a jar kept separate from my money so that I could return the correct amount when contacted.
After 3 months without contact (and one more try calling the defunct phone #) I finally decided that fair was fair,
and kept the quarters.
No, probably not. It's one of those questions that no person can ever truely answer without being there, and truthfully I'm inherantly distrustful of anyone who says they are 100% sure they would remain honest in such a situation. I can only give myself a "probably" because I've been in a lot of situations where I felt pretty confident I could take a bunch of money that didn't belong to me and not be caught, and never did, though I'm not ashamed to admit that I did think about it more than a few times.tippy2k2 said:
At the end of the day you know the source of the money in this question, since the ATM is right there, the money belongs to the owner of the ATM whether it's run by a bank or a private one that's part of a franchise, and you know the machine is malfunctioning. I've been on the side of the coin protecting money/machines/etc... long enough where I just tend to take that side of things inherantly nowadays.
Due to the definate knowlege of the source, and it being a lawful source (the ATM is right there) it's a far differant situation than "you find a bag of money laying around apparently unattended". In the case of finding the unmarked bag of money it could have come from anyone, someone claiming ownership without proof could be a liar, and if there is no way to prove who the money belongs to I might as well take the claim. Not to mention unmarked, unattended, money like that reeks of some kind of criminal drop, which can carry it's own problems, but doesn't exactly tug at my heartstrings.
At any rate that's my answer barring any other variables that could be entered into it. If I'm homeless out on the street and something like that happens, and it becomes a matter of the money ownership as opposed to my nessecity, that for example would change my opinion. It might not make me a paragon of virtue, but I'm not going to starve to death over a principle.
If it was coming out of somebody's account I'd feel morally obligated to give most, if not all, of it back. But since it's not...that shit's goin' straight into my back pocket yo, video games are expensive these days.
Just because the ATM is broken doesn't mean the security cams are. Take some now, pay back 6 times as much after you end up in court when the bank sues you for involvement.
It depends on how much came out. To clarify: Is it an amount that the IRS might be able to track if I don't go through the proper channels to keep it under wraps? If so, I have to weigh the net gain over the hassle and risk of keeping it.
Basically if the money isn't coming from a person's or business' account, and is merely hacked, and there is no surveillance on me, then why not? Especially if it's a major bank. Say, for instance, I go to withdraw $60 from an ATM at Bank of America, and it spits out $600 instead. Nobody knows I have the money, the loss isn't exactly going to sink B Of A, and if I know for sure I'm not robbing a third party, then keeping the money might start to look more appealing and not weigh on one's conscience so much. See, (in the U.S. at least) that money is FDIC insured. Never mind that that particular bank has been has been a total bastard towards its customers, they won't lose shit anyway. The money is guaranteed against loses up to $250,000 per deposit by the federal government. You've already been paying taxes to compensate banks for the very loss that you just inflicted on them.
It's hard to put this outside the hypothetical and am not even sure exactly what I'd do, but I think many wouldn't find themselves so morally righteous if they were poor and would see this as a windfall. Or, blackjack and hookers, ho!
Basically if the money isn't coming from a person's or business' account, and is merely hacked, and there is no surveillance on me, then why not? Especially if it's a major bank. Say, for instance, I go to withdraw $60 from an ATM at Bank of America, and it spits out $600 instead. Nobody knows I have the money, the loss isn't exactly going to sink B Of A, and if I know for sure I'm not robbing a third party, then keeping the money might start to look more appealing and not weigh on one's conscience so much. See, (in the U.S. at least) that money is FDIC insured. Never mind that that particular bank has been has been a total bastard towards its customers, they won't lose shit anyway. The money is guaranteed against loses up to $250,000 per deposit by the federal government. You've already been paying taxes to compensate banks for the very loss that you just inflicted on them.
It's hard to put this outside the hypothetical and am not even sure exactly what I'd do, but I think many wouldn't find themselves so morally righteous if they were poor and would see this as a windfall. Or, blackjack and hookers, ho!
This actually happened to me once.. gave me 20 dollars more than i asked for (which was only 40). Damn right i kept the money 
It depends on the amount, I might take twenty or fifty. I'd have to rationalize it and remind myself about all the money they got for balance from the government and just gave the CEO's raises. I might feel a tiny tad bit bad about it but I'd still take it. I'd either give it to the humane society or something though. I'd definitely be charitable with it.
I could live with myself if I took it, and at the end of the day, that's all that really counts.
Hooray for free money!
Hooray for free money!
Depends. Anywhere from $50-$300? Yeah, I'd keep it easily.
$400-$800 - I'd have to think about it. Definitely take it home, but debate keeping it or handing it in until I came to a decision.
Over $800? Nah, turning at least part of it in.
Would also largely depend on the mood I'm in. If I'm in one of my moods where I hate corporations for basically ruining countries and screwing over the world, I'd take as much as I could, and put at least half of it to use in helping people the banks screw over.
$400-$800 - I'd have to think about it. Definitely take it home, but debate keeping it or handing it in until I came to a decision.
Over $800? Nah, turning at least part of it in.
Would also largely depend on the mood I'm in. If I'm in one of my moods where I hate corporations for basically ruining countries and screwing over the world, I'd take as much as I could, and put at least half of it to use in helping people the banks screw over.
Keep it.tippy2k2 said:
This actually happened once. I went to up an ATM to get out parking money (I needed 5 bucks, but I got out a 20 because that was the smallest bill size) and when I opened the slot to get my 20, I found $120 in there. Someone had left 100 bucks in the ATM. So I said "cool" and kept it.
