Top News

If you one day went to an ATM and it mistakenly made you $1000 richer, what would you do? Would you go take yourself out for a day of impulse buying, or are you an annoying little goodie two-shoes Boy Scout who’d immediately go into the bank and fess up, like a total nerd?

If you said the latter, you are definitely boring. (Boooo!) But you’re also way smarter. A man recently found himself in this exact situation, and after asking people for advice, he got a crash course on what can happen when a bank’s inadvertent largesse goes unreported.

A man was given $900 more than he actually withdrew from an ATM.

Africa Images | Canva Pro

At first blush, it sounds like a dream scenario. “Went to an ATM to withdraw $600,” the man wrote in his post. “The machine spit out $1500 in 50 dollar bills.” Hallelujah! Even better, the ATM was for a “large chain bank” (albeit inside a gas station), the kind of institution that wouldn’t miss $900 and probably deserves the loss, if we’re being honest!

But the man wrote that he immediately felt like “keeping the money is not an option,” as much as he could use the extra $900, especially because his truck needs some work as well as new tires. $900 sure would help offset that cost.

“I know banks screw people over every day, as do larger corporations like the gas station, and I could go on all day about the unethical things they do,” he wrote. “But I don’t want to always be on the lookout for that money to one day disappear from my account.” That, it turns out, is exactly the right instinct.

: Wife Wants To Leave Her Husband After Finding Out What He Planned To Do With $8500 Cash He Found On The Ground

Bank errors like this are exceptionally rare, and it seemed to go unnoticed until he reported it.

Given the seeming gravity of the situation, the guy sure did have a hard time getting anyone to even take his phone call, let alone do anything about it. He made multiple calls to the bank, the company that manages the ATM, and the gas station company, all to no avail. 

When he finally got someone on the phone from the bank, they were dubious about what he said. “They said they have never heard of an ATM giving out too much money,” he was told. “Shorting people, yes. Botching deposits, yes. But never too much money.”

It seems the bank in question didn’t even fully “own” the money anyway, because ATMs in places like gas stations are usually independently owned under agreements in which the owner “rents” space from the store for the ATM and the two share the profits from things like transaction fees. 

The bank whose name appears on the machine is often just lending its brand for marketing and technological purposes, and the actual cash inside itself usually comes from the business “hosting” the ATM on its premises.

The Redditor guessed that what had happened was someone simply put 50-dollar bills where 20-dollar bills were meant to go. But in any case, he was left with the feeling that he probably could have gotten away with keeping the money, given how difficult it was to even report the error. Still, he made the right choice.

: Homeless Man Returns Check For $10,000 To Its Rightful Owner & She Decides To Change His Life

Keeping extra money from an ATM error can result in overdrafts and criminal charges.

Sure, he may have gotten away with it, given the messiness. But it’s likely that eventually, someone in the mix, whether the bank, the ATM owner, the security firm, or the gas station, would have noticed the discrepancy eventually.

Once that arises, two things are likely to happen: One, the bank will simply deduct the extra money from your account, whether it’s in there or not, which is what the bank finally told this man would happen in his case. If you can’t cover the withdrawal at the time, that can result in a pretty hefty series of overdraft charges.

NKDlight | Canva Pro

But even worse, the bank also has the option of prosecuting you for theft, as keeping the money in this situation is technically considered a crime, even if it perhaps shouldn’t be. Experts say you should immediately report any discrepancy, even if it’s after hours, and all you can do is leave a voicemail, just to establish that you did try to ‘fess up.

“I did, by my morals, what I feel was right,” the man wrote in his post, adding that if, for some reason, the bank never takes the money back, he’ll donate it to a local humane society. “Hopefully karma comes back around down the road for me.” Not as exciting as an impromptu shopping spree, but probably a lot less headache in the long run.

: Man Who Won $5000 A Week For Life Now In Danger Of Losing Everything After Publishers Clearing House Went Bankrupt

John Sundholm is a writer, editor, and video personality with 20 years of experience in media and entertainment. He covers culture, mental health, and human interest topics.