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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Would you return the money?

165 replies

GottaGetDownOnFriday · 05/09/2020 03:48

Re: this news story about a cleaner who was accidentally refunded £90,000 instead of £9.
metro.co.uk/2020/09/02/cleaner-sent-90000-by-charity-in-error-let-temptation-get-the-better-off-her-13215404/

Would you have returned the money in her position?

YABU - I would have returned the money.

YANBU - I would have kept the money if I could.

I think I would return it, as it was from a charity so I would feel horribly guilty keeping it and I would worry about getting caught anyway, but I'd probably let it sit in my account for a day or two first whilst wrestling with my conscience.

I'm just curious to see what others would do. I have a lot of sympathy for this woman even though she was clearly in the wrong.

OP posts:
IceCreamAndCandyfloss · 05/09/2020 09:30

Yes, wouldn’t even enter my head to keep it regardless of the source.

I’m very black and white on issues like this though so would report receiving the wrong item in a shipment, duplicate goods etc.

Grannyspecsandslippers · 05/09/2020 09:33

Has happened to me. Was a large company not a charity. And yes I immediately gave the money back because to keep it would have been theft. They didn’t know til I told them, though presumably somewhere along the line it would have been audited for and noticed?

gggrrrargh · 05/09/2020 09:34

100% return.

After coming back from a secondment at work my first wage slip back was something like £16,000 too much. I thought it was funny, reported it and they asked me to transfer back and they would sort out paperwork side.

Less funny was getting a massive student loan deduction the next month. I was so cross because work wouldn’t help me and kept referring me to student loans, who also weren’t interested.. had to get head of HR involved in the end

bruffin · 05/09/2020 09:35

@slashlover

As for the 2 dismissed, it does say they were dismissed after investigation

Charity shops have paid staff so they 100% know that someone will be in to open the shop/someone is responsible etc. If the bank found the error on the Monday that means that proper end of day procedures were not followed or that checks were not done.

I think they actually said the managers found it on the Monday. I worked for a car dealership and we in accounts did not work at weekends so this would not have been found until Monday morning.
Nanalisa60 · 05/09/2020 09:35

She stole from a charity!! No morals!!

And who takes things back to a charity shop for a refund!!

Grannyspecsandslippers · 05/09/2020 09:36

And the money I returned would have made a massive difference to me, I was living on the breadline at the time working shifts in a £3 an hour job ( pre minimum wage days) and living day by day on what I earned.

Tomatoesneedtoripen · 05/09/2020 09:37

@Nanalisa60

She stole from a charity!! No morals!!

And who takes things back to a charity shop for a refund!!

now particularly, you cannot try things on, you have to pay for them and then take back if they dont fit if something cost £9 that makes a difference in some people's lives, try and be more aware
Valkadin · 05/09/2020 09:39

No I wouldn’t keep it.

When a junior at work I was paid twice one month. I immediately informed my employers. They would not take it back and insisted I had not been over paid. I assume someone wanted to cover up their mistake. It was only a junior member of staffs months wages so for a huge organisation they absorbed it no problem but it was a huge amount to me.

Pelleas · 05/09/2020 09:45

Yes, I would return it, wherever it had apparently come from.

I once got paid some money twice by solicitors - this was in the days of cheques so I sent the second cheque back and received a nice letter thanking me for my honesty. Halo

fluffi · 05/09/2020 09:49

Absolutely returned money - if even £90 instead of a refund £9 arrived in my bank account I'd know it was an error and would contact the sender and my bank immediately.

Bakeachocolatecaketoday · 05/09/2020 10:09

No one should "immediately" return strange amounts of money that appear in their banks. Wait for the due process - the bank will contact you to facilitate the return. Then you obviously return it, but there are many cases of fraud where money can look like it is in your account when it isn't.... returning it would leave you out of pocket.

bruffin · 05/09/2020 10:15

@Bakeachocolatecaketoday

No one should "immediately" return strange amounts of money that appear in their banks. Wait for the due process - the bank will contact you to facilitate the return. Then you obviously return it, but there are many cases of fraud where money can look like it is in your account when it isn't.... returning it would leave you out of pocket.
I think the issue was that she made no attempt to talk to her bank at all or mental. She just started redistributing the money almost as soon as she found it.
User43210 · 05/09/2020 10:20

@daisychain01

Would love to know how it happened - did the cat sit on the 0 key....

00000000000000000000 Tiddles what have you done?!!!!?!

Not sure if already mentioned, lots of replies. It was £90,047.19 so the staff will have typed 900 for 9.00 and not pressed ok. Then handed it over. The 4719 would be her pin which she would have pressed ok and then had to re-enter as a pin. It's whether she knew or not when she entered the pin the second time.
Iamthewombat · 05/09/2020 10:22

Yes, funny how quickly she started wiring money to Ghana, wasn’t it? Almost as if she knew that she’d been dishonest and as expecting to be told to pay it back.

I would love to see her police interviews.

Unfortunate for her that she has such a distinctive name that sticks in the mind. Comfort Konadu = thief and liar.

ToDoListAddict · 05/09/2020 10:28

I would have returned it or flagged to my bank to return it, no matter where it came from.
She knew it was an error as she moved large sums to other accounts straight away. So she knew they would have been trying to recall it.
To be honest, I was shocked she requested a refund from a charity shop in the first place.
I would have just donated the item back - but obviously everyone's financial situation is different and that £9 might have been desperately needed.

Whitney168 · 05/09/2020 10:29

Glad she wasn't my cleaner, too, clearly not an honest woman.

AlexisCarringtonColbyDexter · 05/09/2020 10:30

Of COURSE I would return it. Its basically stealing not to.

Stealing from Mencap- a charity that helps people with disabilities. It doesnt really get much lower than that. I'm sorry but she is a horrible person. I dont care how poor you are, stealing from a charity makes you scum.

Sarahpaula · 05/09/2020 10:31

How is it theft, when they have put it in your bank account? They gave her the money.

It was a mistake, but I think if you put 90,000 in many people's bank accounts, they are going to be overwhelmed.

What about the case where a man paid 100,000 into the wrong bank account? He was told by the bank that it was his mistake, he didn't get the money back, and the recipient wasn't charged with theft.

So why is it theft when an organisation pays some one in mistake, but it is not theft when an individual pays some one in mistake?

AlexisCarringtonColbyDexter · 05/09/2020 10:32

No one should "immediately" return strange amounts of money that appear in their banks. Wait for the due process - the bank will contact you to facilitate the return. Then you obviously return it, but there are many cases of fraud where money can look like it is in your account when it isn't.... returning it would leave you out of pocket

Yes but thats not what she did is it?- she tried to send it to other accounts so it couldn't be reclaimed and she was charged with theft so this isnt the case here at all.

bruffin · 05/09/2020 10:58

@Sarahpaula

How is it theft, when they have put it in your bank account? They gave her the money.

It was a mistake, but I think if you put 90,000 in many people's bank accounts, they are going to be overwhelmed.

What about the case where a man paid 100,000 into the wrong bank account? He was told by the bank that it was his mistake, he didn't get the money back, and the recipient wasn't charged with theft.

So why is it theft when an organisation pays some one in mistake, but it is not theft when an individual pays some one in mistake?

www.money.co.uk/guides/can-you-keep-money-accidentally-paid-into-your-bank-account.htm She made no attempt to find out where the money came from ie contact the bank
PleasantVille · 05/09/2020 11:02

@Bakeachocolatecaketoday

No one should "immediately" return strange amounts of money that appear in their banks. Wait for the due process - the bank will contact you to facilitate the return. Then you obviously return it, but there are many cases of fraud where money can look like it is in your account when it isn't.... returning it would leave you out of pocket.
The issue here isn't the mechanics of how to give the money back, it's the fact that with lightening speed she transferred it to overseas accounts for which it can't be reclaimed without contacting either the shop or the bank.
HOkieCOkie · 05/09/2020 11:05

Yes, it’s takes a pretty shitty person to steal from a charity. I know it was an accidental transfer but to spend money you know is not yours is stealing.

DidoAtTheLido · 05/09/2020 11:23

Really shocking that anyone would keep this, even if it comes from a bank.

This is not victimless. In the end bank losses result in some disadvantage for employees, customers etc.

You would need to be both thick and dishonest to keep that kind of obvious mistake money.

NailsNeedDoing · 05/09/2020 11:25

@Sarahpaula

How is it theft, when they have put it in your bank account? They gave her the money.

It was a mistake, but I think if you put 90,000 in many people's bank accounts, they are going to be overwhelmed.

What about the case where a man paid 100,000 into the wrong bank account? He was told by the bank that it was his mistake, he didn't get the money back, and the recipient wasn't charged with theft.

So why is it theft when an organisation pays some one in mistake, but it is not theft when an individual pays some one in mistake?

It became theft the moment she made the decision to deprive the real owner of the money.

She knew it was a mistake, she consciously chose to take advantage of that by removing it from her bank account so that she could benefit from it. That’s why it’s theft.

Pobblebonk · 05/09/2020 11:58

How is it theft, when they have put it in your bank account? They gave her the money

Do you think you know better than the court which convicted this woman and the lawyers who advised her to plead guilty? Of course it's theft. She knew the money was not hers and she decided to keep it.