What Would You Do If A Mysterious Million Dollars Appeared?

[LordofSquirrels]

Let me put this scenario before your eyes, lads and lasses; if you were to check your bank account one day, and find that a million dollars had been added to your account, what would your first reaction be? What would you do? Would you call the bank to complain that you had been given a staggering amount of money, to demand an explanation? Would you withdraw or transfer the money as fast as you possibly could, thinking to escape and evade the authorities on a tropical island somewhere? Would you maybe just sit and keep an eye on it for a month or two, not spending it, but not trying to alert anyone to the fact that it's in your account, hoping that maaaaybe if you wait long enough, and nobody notices, you can keep the money without ending up in jail.

If you decided to take it, and make a go at keeping it illegally, would you skip town? Get a fake ID? Or would you just spend it as fast as you could, and claim that you had thought someone was just giving it to you? What would you buy?


I ask because of Hui Gao, a small-time businessman who received almost ten million dollars due to a banking error; by the time the bank noticed the error, a few days later, Gao had transferred much the money to offshore accounts, and fled the country. They caught him a year or two later, with about three million still missing... did he hide it? Spend it?


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTVFx4cUrCI

 

[twistedmic]

I'd alert the bank about the unexpected deposit, mainly because I have absolutely no desire to go to prison. If, by some magnificent stroke of good luck, the deposit was legitimate, I'd put half into a savings account and the use the rest to get a house, a car and an kick-ass home theater/entertainment system.

 

[crooky]

I thought about this a little when the news story broke and I guess the safest way to make money is to put it in a high interest savings account. That way if the bank does ask for the million back you can at least resolve the issue easily. In an account that pays 3% interest you'll be getting 2500 dollars/pounds/euros etc for every month they don't notice which to me is a decent amount of money for nearly no risk.

Another riskier option I guess could be to spend it but keep enough for some decent lawyers to argue that the bank shouldn't be so careless if they do come looking for their money.

And a third unethical slightly mental option could be to setup yourself/pay someone else to set up a fake charity then claim you gave the money to charity and hope the bank is too publicly embarrassed to chase you up for money that "you gave to charity".

 

[DugMachine]

Probably alert the bank immediately. I mean, can't really spend that money once you're in jail can you? Heck, maybe the bank will give you a small reward for being honest and not spending it all like a crazy nut... lol probably not.

Now that I think of it, have banks ever given rewards to people when stuff like this happens?

 

[Ruedyn]

Say fuck you to the angel on my shoulder, then buy all the columbian hookers possible.

Then flee the country, or tape a bunch of ones to my butthole for anal protection.

 

[Nerexor]

In the real world: Call the bank and ask for the source of the money. If somehow the money is mine, pay off debts, acquire property, rent it out, live as a landlord.

In happy no-consequences land: Call up the student loan company and say "HINDER ME NO MORE STUDENT DEBT" and then pay them off. Then fly off to some country where booze and land are cheap, and live comfortably but not so obviously that anyone targets my precious money.

 

[Keoul]

Wait a month.
By then I have a month's worth of interest (not that high but whatever). Then I'd withdraw the interest and alert the banks, even though legally it would be mine > at least from my understanding of how banks work via cracked articles.
[link]http://www.cracked.com/article_18753_the-6-most-creative-abuses-loopholes_p2.html[/link]
seriously, this first story seems eerily similar to this thread.

 

[Programmed_For_Damage]

I'd like to say I'd keep it and go nuts but really I'd do everything in my power to try and find where the money came from. Then my wife would leave me for being so stupid.

 

[Dangit2019]

I'd alert the bank about the unexpected deposit, mainly because I have absolutely no desire to go to prison. If, by some magnificent stroke of good luck, the deposit was legitimate, I'd put half into a savings account and the use the rest to get a house, a car and an kick-ass home theater/entertainment system.

I'm gonna go with this answer. Although I would probably substitute the theater system with a drum kit or something.

 

[Leemaster777]

I thought about this a little when the news story broke and I guess the safest way to make money is to put it in a high interest savings account. That way if the bank does ask for the million back you can at least resolve the issue easily. In an account that pays 3% interest you'll be getting 2500 dollars/pounds/euros etc for every month they don't notice which to me is a decent amount of money for nearly no risk.

Best answer. I highly, highly doubt that you'd be arrested for NOT reporting that the money had be mistakenly deposited into your account, as long as you gave it back. This way, easy fix for you if they come after it, plus hefty interest.

 

[Wickatricka]

Put half of it in a offshore bank account and then proceed to buy as much blow as humanly possible. Then if you've ever seen the movie Blow something like that would probably happen lol.

 

[MammothBlade]

Ahh, the weekly money fantasising thread...

I'd keep it. Though I'd be very careful about the source of the money, check my bank statement, etc. If I can get away with it I'll buy a nice house and an Audi and leave the rest to fate and incompetent accountants.

 

[Friendly Lich]

Pay for my girlfriends dental bill then buy both of us wicked pc's take a trip somewhere, new zealand or europe, give a couple hundred away to the homeless in the form of giftcards to healthy eating places, then save the rest.

 

[Jolly Co-operator]

I'd buy a pet frog, pre-order and pay off all the upcoming games I'm interested in, then alert the bank and return the rest. Or maybe just buy the frog, I don't know.

 

[Rawne1980]

I'd love to give a sensible "i'd alert the bank" answer but i'd go on a big spending spree.

 

[RJ 17]

Honestly if this were occuring in a "vacuum", I'd likely keep it in there and just go about my daily life, content with the fact that I'd never have to worry about the trivial bills that I have again.

But seeing as how you end the OP with how it's based on a true story about some guy who got busted 2 years later even after transfering the funds and fleeing the country, yeah, I'd take that example and report it.

Unless I could come up with some wild, convoluted money-laundering scam. Withdrawl a whole bunch every day from an ATM and keep it in the form of paper money. When/if I got confronted about it, tell them that someone had stolen my ATM card and that I left a message with my bank to report this. Seeing as hole I never ran into issues while using my debit card, I had assumed the situation was resolved. In short: claim that you never knew there was an extra million in the bank account to begin with.

 

[RedDeadFred]

Alert the bank because chances are it wasn't meant for me and if I did go and spend it, I may get into trouble.

 

[DarkRyter]

On an unrelated note, that youtube channel has a very appropriate name.

Now I feel kinda bad.