My friend just found $11,000 in his bank account... He want;s to spend it, will he get in trouble?

Question

I told him that he will get in trouble, but he still wants to spend it.

what will happen if he does? Would he get in trouble even

though it is a bank error? Please let me know....

Answer 1

Same thing happened to my stepfather about 5 years ago. He waited about 6 months, nobody claimed it so he spent it. 6 months later the same thing happend to him, he waited than spent it. they never caught the errors. The 1st time it was about $20,000. The 2nd time it was Around $10,000. Me and my hubby had the same thing happen. About a year ago, we noticed a deposit of 3,300 that we did not make. My hubby is very honest so he contacted the bank right away and about 3 days later the money was gone so I guess they must have found the owner. They said the deposit slip had our account number on them. They even showed my hubby a copy of the deposit slip. My only problem is, what if the guy my husband talked to at the bank did not even try to find the owner of the money and pocketed the money himself. In that case, I think hubby should have kept quiet, waited to see what happened, But don't spend the money for a long length of time just in case the do catch the error. If your friend spends this money and they catch the error, he will have to pay back all the money including any fees for the account being overdrawn. As far as getting in trouble. He knows the money isn't his yet he spent it anyway without contacting the bank. I say wait and keep quiet for awhile because if he contacts the bank, who knows if the person he talks to will be honest enough to find where the money really goes or will that person just transfer it to their own account. If the bank starts to look for the money, I am sure they will find it and put it back where it belongs.

Answer 2

Yes, once the bank realizes its error (and they WILL), they will be contacting your friend to get the money back, OR they will automatically debit his account for the $11,000 they accidentally credited. Important to know because if he spends a bunch of it and then they try to pull the money back, he'll end up overdrawn and may face surcharges. As far as the bank and the law are concerned, you should know how much money you're "supposed" to have in the bank. If you jump from $1000 to $12000, you know there was an error, and the money isn't yours, so either the bank will contact you or you should contact the bank. At best you may just be required to repay the amount. At worst, they may press fraud charges.

That said, ethically, it wouldn't be right to spend money that isn't yours. Even if you got away with it, remember that the bank ends up taking a loss, and to make up for it they increase their fees, insurance, etc. for everybody to cover it.

Answer 3

He needs to contact the bank immediately and give up any plans on spending it. The bank will discover the error and remove the money from his account. If he starts spending the money he will have to pay it back at the very least. He could be subject to fines and or prosecution as well for misappropriating the funds.

Answer 4

This happens frequently. Banks make mistakes but ALWAYS discover them later. If your friend spends the money, I hope he has another account from which to pay back the bank later.

The point is this: the money doesn't belong to your friend even if the bank made mistake in putting in his account. The money belongs in someone else's account, who is short by $11,000. They will certainly call the bank asking about their missing money.

Would your friend think it right that someone else could spend his money if the bank put it into that someone else's account by mistake? Of course not!

Answer 5

Transfer it all at once, to an account not in his name or in his bank.
Don't ask the bank if it is their mistake, get the money safe in an account in a different bank or a credit union.
It is less than the $15,000 which is the amount requiring additional documentation for reasons of transfer to prevent money laundering.
Don't spend it, as he may get into debt. If it is a bank error, he may decide to keep the $11,000, and find another bank to do his banking.
He would do well to ask for financial advise, instead of a lawyer, as these mistakes are legal sometimes. Legal in he may be allowed to keep the money and no longer be welcome as a customer of the particular bank. Financial people can get a printout of his transactions, and be able to advise him if he can keep the money. The loyalty to a particular bank, if he cannot easily save $11,000 could be too costly in this situation. The ethics of finding if it is legal to keep this, is loyal enough.
And if he can't keep it, there are ways of asking for a sum of it, for returning it, upon legal verification he cannot keep it.
Possession is nine=tenths of the law.

Answer 6

You are sitting at a computer asking this question.
This is the computer age man. The bank will trace the error in
their transaction and it will have to be paid back and with all
interest occured and be sure it will go on his credit report.
If charged with theft by neglect by not reporting it, anything
over a hundred is a felony. I promise you, he does not want
that on his record. With the governments high tech system
of computers, don't you think they pick up "key" words on the
internet for national security reasons. If you put your message
on Q&A, and I answered it. don't you think someone with a
badge can get access to even you.Good luck pall's. One
last thing. He will have to declare that on his income taxes at
the end of the year as gross earnings, or be charged with
income tax evasion. ($_$) easy come, (=_=) easy go. :-})>

Answer 7

If its not his money tell him dont spend because they will put his *** in jail in the quickest that is messin wit da goverment they will put him up under the jail. The right thing to do is just tell him to go to his bank and file a report and you never know if nobody claims the money missing he just might be able to keep some of it, if not all

Answer 8

I am not sure he will get in 'trouble' but it sounds like it is a bank error and they will find the error and ask him for it back so if he spends it he should just consider it a 'loan'. He will not get away with it in my opinion.

similar issue happened to my daughter recently where a clerk punched in one wrong digit on the account and credited her with a deposit of $3000 she did not make. they found it and corrected it pretty quickly.

he should make it easy on himself and call the bank as soon as possible.

Answer 9

He could be liable for it if the bank catches the error, even though it sounds great and he could proabably use it , he should talk to the bank and find out how it ended up in his account.

Answer 10

Yes. He will get in trouble. They can prosecute.

Additionally, the IRS will want to know why he didn't pay taxes on that $11,000 dollars. Then they will slap him for the taxes on that (20%) and he'll have already spent it.

Have him stick it in his savings account. After a certain amount of time (years) you can keep it. But you might earn some interest on it.