Updated -- Child millionaire for a minute ... until bank puts a stop to it
Update: Results of our poll (see below) based on this post of July 2:
You answered the question What would you do if money landed in your bank account by mistake? this way-
Notify the bank- it's the right thing to do: 4,954 votes, 52.8%
Pretend its mine just for fun until they figure it out: 1,654 votes, 17.6%
Empty my account and run: 2,776 votes, 29.6%
Imagine going to an ATM to get some money, and finding out you're a millionaire. Now imagine this happening to you when you're only 16 years old. Would you start spending it? Or would common sense rule and would you check with the bank to see what's going on?
A British boy named William Bowen became a momentary recipient of £2 million and took the more risky approach. He started spending. The story begins with a trip to an ATM to withdraw £300 to do some shopping. Bowen didn't worry about his balance on that stop.
But he returned to the ATM later in the day to check his balance to see if he had any money available for more shopping. Much to his surprise, he appeared to be £2 million richer. Bowen was waiting on a payment from a government program that gives money to children who stay in school. He didn't think it would be that much, but wasn't arguing.
His spree didn't last that long, however. Bowen was so excited that he was telling people on the street to look at his balance. Someone must have tipped off the bank, because the error was corrected and the boy's account showed up as overdrawn. His mom says he'll cover that overdraft when his money from the government actually comes in.
This kind of reminds me of the movie Millions, in which a boy gets a windfall of money and has to decide what to do with it. But I've written this story several times on WalletPop, and something tells me I'll be writing it again ... If your bank account mysteriously grows, don't spend the money. It was an error, it's not yours, and you shouldn't spend it.
Why does that seem like plain old common sense to me and not others? How do people justify taking what's not theirs just because there are other injustices in the world? That's not right in my ethos, and it wasn't right in Bowen's, either. He should be thankful that the bank stopped him before he had a chance to spend even more money and make a real mess for himself.
Maybe even better is the irony that the boy thought this money was his government payment for staying in school. Seems the educational system is failing him in a variety of ways.
Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, MBA, CFE performs fraud examinations and financial investigations for her company Sequence Inc. Forensic Accounting, and is the author of Essentials of Corporate Fraud.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
7-03-2008 @ 2:25PM
AuMixer said...
banks shouldn't make mistakes, but they do and have screwed me out of hundreds. Funny how when theiir mistakes cost them money, they fix it.
Reply
7-03-2008 @ 4:20PM
filmz said...
DITTO.
When it costs the consumer, it's an absolute nightmare to resolve THEIR oversights --and OFTEN ADDITIONALLY costly!!
But when there's an error that costs them, there is *suddenly* an urgent resolve.
There's "business" for ya....
Banks are indeed some of the biggest crooks there are.
7-03-2008 @ 2:11PM
cookieleeshop said...
happened to me once...bank error deposited more than 200 million in my account. i reported it to the bank IMMEDIATELY. instead of taking out the erroneous error, they froze my ENTIRE account, and my checks started bouncing all over the place. it was a nightmare to straighten out, and the bank barely apologized. I no longer do business with them...
Reply
7-03-2008 @ 3:08PM
Roberto Benitez said...
I hope you made them cover any bounced check fees. Personally, I would have talked to a junk yard dog lawyer.
7-03-2008 @ 3:37PM
Thomas Almasi said...
Wow, if the bank is that stupid, you could probably have spended it all and it would take forever for them to figure out what went wrong! lol
7-03-2008 @ 2:18PM
Jim Singleton said...
I don't know what the law is on this ....but as crooked as the banks are....I think I'd at least take out what they've taken from me over the years plus lots of interest for agravation and time etc....
Perhaps it would be legal to keep it if you took it out and changed banks though...It seems it would be up to them to prove it an error....If they win the judgement against you...then they can file a complaint with the Cayman Islands....Sorry I just have no feeling for the bankers...They are so sorry...
Reply
7-03-2008 @ 2:23PM
Tracy Coenen said...
It sounds like you should stop doing business with banks all together. That will show them!
7-03-2008 @ 3:18PM
wd56ta said...
You are so right. Banks are the biggest crooks
7-03-2008 @ 9:12PM
erre said...
i agree with your strategy,screw em',it'l teach em a lesson.
7-03-2008 @ 2:24PM
Carrie said...
This actually happened to me. While it was $2 million, it was $2000 USD. This happened to me in 1998. I went to the bank to deposit my paycheck on a Saturday, my receipt for the deposit looked normal. I then balanced my account the following week, and I suddenly had $2000 more in there than what I should have. I spent what was mine, and left the rest in there for over a month, just waiting for the bank to realize its mistake. After 5 weeks, I contacted my bank. They researched it and realized that the teller in my branch who did the transaction, typed the last number of the acct incorrectly, causing the money to go into my account. They thanked me for calling and said that no one else had ever come forward to notify them.
Reply
7-05-2008 @ 8:54AM
MIKEW4DE said...
I once cashed my paycheck at a drivethru window and 2 of the hundred dollar bills were stuck together and when I informed the teller that a "mistake had been made" she rather curtly said that "she never makes mistakes." That night I recieved a call from the bank mgr. and he said that there was a discrepancy in that tellers drawer and she was fairly sure that it was my transaction that was at fault. I just told the mgr that "I thought that there had been a mistake but I was informed that she NEVER made mistakes, so it must have been ME who made the mistake. The bank was out a hundred dollars and I never saw that teller again.
Reply
7-03-2008 @ 3:01PM
Donna Fary said...
good for you.
7-03-2008 @ 7:09PM
Shea said...
That's good b/c that's tha kind of "big-headedness" that can get your job lost on account of you. If someone tells you there was a mistake on your own behalf then you should be willing to resolve it quickly especially if you work at a bank.
7-03-2008 @ 2:30PM
AuMixer said...
banks have made errors and cost me hundreds. they shouldn't make mistakes but they do and then claim they are infallible. funny how they make an effort to correct the problem when they make a mistake that costs THEM money. and the kid was 16, so he should be unaccountable for using bad judgement during their mistake. they should have to foot the bill. in essence they lied to the kid about his balance and liars should be punished
Reply
7-03-2008 @ 2:47PM
erin said...
so a bank error in my favor gets corrected and i owe them money for overdrafts...yet a bank error the other way around i get a lousy excuse and still have fees to pay. if i didnt have to write checks to pay my bills, id have my money under a mattress. crooked bastards
Reply
7-03-2008 @ 7:00PM
Gina said...
Hey, I agree
It's like Monopoly: Bank error in my favor, collect two hundred dollars; in this case 2 mil.
I think the filthy rich bank should eat what the boy spent. It's not his fault he's mickey the dunce. He probably thought he was getting some big amount of money for staying in school so other kids will follow suit.
Thinking maybe they'll think, they'll be the next winners, which by all means, if you stay in school, you will be a winner anyway no matter what and maybe not make huge mistakes that this bank teller did. ha ha ha ha ha
7-03-2008 @ 2:51PM
Barry said...
It's the banks fault for the mistake. This boy should not be held accountable for their mistake. I'm not sure how the laws work over there, but if that happens here, the bank has to eat the loss. If it had been me, I would have taken out as much of it as i could and set up a life.
Reply
7-03-2008 @ 2:53PM
Tracy Coenen said...
Apparently you're not sure how the law works here either, because a bank doesn't have to "eat" a loss from a mistake. They have a right to correct their mistake, and the customer ought to know better than to spend a bunch of money that isn't theirs.
7-03-2008 @ 3:25PM
Patrick said...
Banks here only take the hit if's it's be longer the 90 days. And believe me they would have caught the error before then. And if not for that amount of money, it would have gone to court.
7-03-2008 @ 2:57PM
heidi said...
the kid is a thief, he knew it was not his money he obviously grew up with no morals
Reply