To think my friend shouldn't have taken this money?

[Gracelet]

She was at a National Trust type place which had a second hand book section. As she was browsing she found £165 hidden in one of the books. Rather than hand it in she just kept it and looked rather shocked when I said it was theft.

My perspective - the book belonged to the shop and therefore so does the money.

Her perspective - just luck she came across it so decided to keep it/the shop should have checked the books.

Just for extra info, she doesn't struggle with money but does live payday to payday.

Well, you sound a peach. 🙄
The world would be an even shittier place if we all had your attitude towards other people, thank fuck we're not all like that is all I can say.

It benefits me greatly as well, that not everybody is like me 😁

🙄

No, I realise that - although the shop may take exception to discovering that the money had been technically theirs, having been donated, and then somebody found it and stole it.

My main thinking is whether somebody would feel shame at having been found out helping themselves to money that most certainly didn't belong to them - and then too embarrassed to ever return there. Many would; many wouldn't care at all.

Actual Theft - Report to police!

there you go, on the very link you've posted, it says it in black and white:

To avoid being guilty of theft you’d have to satisfy yourself that the property has been genuinely ‘abandoned’ by its owner.

Umm, no, it was NOT the property of NT. If I leave my phone under your sofa cushion, that doesn’t mean it’s your phone 😂😂 And good luck PROVING someone’s intention like that. People don’t tend to make donations by hiding things. I don’t donate to my local charity by stashing money under their rug? What a weird assumption that it was a donation.

Report her to the police, and hope they throw the book at her 🤣🤣🤣

Wow (the whole quote) 😮

@WettyBite & @Willmafrockfit & @EauNeu

Yes I did phone a non emergency police number to see if I should hand it in ( I stand corrected it was not a police station )

The reason I did it is because that money wasn't mine and if by chance someone had inquired they could have got it.

Sorry if that is peak mums net , 😁But I speak as one who went to a cash dispenser with £20 left in the dispensing tray & took it back into the bank with my details so If some one asked for the previous transaction they would know it was theirs.

I am not in the business of taking other people's money if I can help it. It doesn't sit right with me.

Why does buying the book make it better? I don’t understand?

What was the book, OP?

And, was the money in old notes, or the newer, plasticy notes?

The National Trust is a fully accountable charity who do a massive amount for coastline, conservation etc!

I reckon it was Great Expectations!

It was given to the NT, if it isn't their's then it's whoever would have inherited it. The intention to deprived has got to be present in every theft case. It's taken as a given if the person has left and not returned the item within a time period. Or no-one would ever get convicted of theft.

Not saying anyone will bring charges but it is technically theft/illegal. Just because you can get away with something doesn’t mean it is legal and right

It clearly wasn't intended as a deliberate donation to the NT..It was forgotten in a book. Who's going to hide donated money in a book that was to be sold without being opened? Finding that was sheer luck. The other most likely outcome was that book was sold and the buyer either discovered it one day when reading, or it never gets discovered and is either redonated or thrown out without ever being found.

The frothing in here is so strange. A crime? Theft? Seriously. Everyone in here makes a tax return when they sell an item on eBay I'm sure.

Definitely either that or Who Moved My Cheese?

The frothing in here is so strange. A crime? Theft? Seriously. Everyone in here makes a tax return when they sell an item on eBay I'm sure.

If they're business sellers, I hope they do.

If you sell your own old stuff second-hand - as opposed to buying things for the purpose of reselling them for a profit - you're absolutely legally entitled to keep the money, without paying any tax on it, with no need whatsoever to declare it to HMRC.

@Anotherparkingthread · Yesterday 20:40

I'd have kept it. If I saw somebody drop money I'd not tell them if they looked like a knob as well. I know it's technically theft but I don't care. I have almost no compassion for most people and we all have to do what is best for ourselves.

Blimey. Who shat in your cornflakes?

Also, the more I think about it, the more I can't fathom how £165 got 'hidden' in a book. Why did it not fall out when the staff members were handling it? Why was the extra 'bulk' not seen? There would have had to have been at least 10 'money' notes. I doubt very much that there was 3 fifty pound notes, and a tenner, and a fiver.

Stealing from a charity, if it was NT. It would have gone to the upkeep of that property if handed in, or the original owner may be traced. NT unable to check every book thats donated. Would change my perception of my friend.

The National Trust is a fully accountable charity who do a massive amount for coastline, conservation etc!

Maybe, but underneath it all they're a bunch or arseholes.

I don't see this as stealing, there's no way of finding out who it belonged to originally, it didn't belong to National Trust.

Not even just people with dementia. My DM had money hidden in various places throughout her home and she was perfectly compos mentis at the time. I think if I remember correctly, it was somewhere in the region of £4000 in total. I think she used to draw her pension out each week and hide the cash she didn't spend.

Pretty sure that's theft. Criminal act. She acted dishonestly because she made no attempt to find the owner, and should have reported the find to the proprietor (NT shop). The money belongs either to the donor of the book (it's mislaid not abandoned) or the NT. Definitely not to her.

Thief.

www.stephensons.co.uk/site/blog/criminal-justice-blog/can-you-legally-keep-money-you-find

As someone who works in charity, could definitely have tracked down the donor if they were a gift aider! Maybe even if not but I don't know their donation policies.
I would have handed it in.