The Agony of Being an Honest Person
So. This is weird.
I logged on to my bank account as I do every day or so. My eyes nearly popped out. My savings account was higher by a big amount, more than doubling my account total. (Because we’ve been saving for the wedding for about a year now, there is a significant chunk of cash in there right now.) I looked at the transactions, and it said that there was a deposit yesterday. Looking at the detail screen did not reveal anything. No details, no info about whether it was an ATM deposit or a bank teller deposit or whatever.
Now, this looks like a landfall windfall (woops!). However, if someone is making deposits to my account, someone might be making withdrawals, and I don’t like this. Also, if it’s someone I know, I want to thank them.
So I called my bank. For the first several minutes, they had no idea how to track this transaction. But it looked like it came from some sort of “internal transaction” which means that money was moved around from one account to another rather than cash being deposited. After some searching, they were able to give me the name and number of a person; this was the person who made the transaction, although it is not clear if this is a bank teller or an individual. I am thinking someone miswrote a digit or two of the receiving account, and I am the beneficiary. The bank customer service agent said to me, “Well, congratulations. It seems like you have some extra money.”
So, I struggled internally for about 2 nanoseconds before I called the number. I knew I would call, as much as I wish I could live with myself if I didn’t. To my mixed feelings, I got voicemail. I left a message about the transaction, not detailing the amount or any info that might let them scam me. I hope they call me back. But what happens if they don’t?
WHAT?!!
Thank me later! 🙂
land·fall Pronunciation Key (lndfôl)
n.
1. The act or an instance of sighting or reaching land after a voyage or flight.
2. The land sighted or reached after a voyage or flight.
wind·fall Pronunciation Key (wndfôl)
n.
1. A sudden, unexpected piece of good fortune or personal gain.
2. Something, such as a ripened fruit, that has been blown down by the wind.
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What happens if they don’t? They or someone will. Sooner or later, it will catch up with you and you’ll have to give them the money. If you spend it, you’ll still have to pay it back. If you don’t rectify it quick, they might even try to hit you up for (easily avoidable) penalties.
“The bank customer service agent said to me, “Well, congratulations. It seems like you have some extra money.””
Don’t listen to that person. That person doesn’t know what (s)he is talking about. You don’t have any extra money (unless someone is trying to give you money intentionally).
This isn’t like finding money on some deserted highway with no witnesses. There’s a paper trail that ties you directly to the money and the (likely) error.
Worse, if you spend it and later claim it was an innocent mistake to spend it, this blog posting will tie you to the fact you knew it wasn’t your money.
Blame Seppo and the fact he posts under his real name for the ease with which they will find out (although they could probably find it without him; just more difficult).
I don’t plan on spending it. It would be such a nightmare if I spent any of it and had to return it.
I vaguely hope I get to keep it, but I wouldn’t feel right about someone losing such a huge amount of money anyway.
That’s why I hate myself sometimes.
I like how it’s my fault. 😀
mysterious_fiancee
Yeah, I don’t know any Seppo. 😉
http://tinyurl.com/d7plp <-- This sounds just like what happened to me. I expect to see a letter or get a call in about 3 days when the person doesn't see the deposit on their account. Meanwhile, it’s like when you imagine winning the lottery and have all sorts of fantasies of what you’d do with the money. Ah, the dreams.
Ugh. This is why I hope they call me back. I don’t want to imagine someone crying & heartbroken about the money they misdeposited.
Turns out the number they gave me was that of a bank teller. She called me back and is now looking up some information. Just to be safe, I refused to give her any personal information beyond my name, until we were able to mutually verify our information. Well, even then, I just let her know vaguely what happened and let her look up the info herself, which she would be able to have access to if she were a bank teller.
Anyway, she said she is going to research the transaction and figure out where it came from and who made the deposit and call me back. It’s a relief, frankly.
Just in case of a scam, I won’t authorize the transfer back out without all sorts of verification, but I’m glad it’s being looked into.
They called me back and found the person who made the deposit and it turned out it was just a wrong account number, so they are fixing it.
Boo! But yay! I don’t have to have this strange weight on my shoulders anymore.
You should be halfway through Mexico by now.
*shakes head*
I would’ve live like a Papaya King!
i’m glad they sorted this out.. your post is so appropriately named.. because you *are* such a good person
-roopa
I was on the flip side of a similar situation, and it cost me thousands of dollars.
Basically someone entered the wrong credit card number and my account got charged. Only it was a corporate card for a company I no longer worked for (I was told the account would be cancelled when I left).
It ruined my credit at a time when I was carrying significant balances. The way I found out was that my interest rates shot up to 28% or something and I had to deduce it all myself. And of course even though it was an identified error and my credit report fixed, I didn’t get the money back.
Not that you’re not a good person, but not cleaning that up would have been more dangerous than anything.
Wow! I’m amazed that someone miswriting a single number could result in you getting free money, and the bank didn’t seem to care!