NationStates Jolt Archive

Suppose you just bought a house. you're moved in and everything is unpacked and set up.

one day, while working in your backyard, basement, whereever, you find an old beaten up suitcase hidden away, filled with 500,000 in the currency of your country (for the US, it would be in bundles of $100 bills.) the bills are authentic and non-sequencial. the Suitcase looks decades old and the most current year is in the 1970's.

would you keep it? would you report it in? turn it over to the cops? Would you take that trip around the world?

I know everyone would say they would do the right thing (whatever that is.) but really... what would you do?

Details of the scenario...
There is no indication as to who owns the suitcase, no reports of any large bank hiest or robbery in the area... the last owners of the house had the house for only 10 years and the previous owner died with no known surviving family.


Note: I'll post what I would do later. :cool:

Suddenly having half a mil to spare after buying a new house would look suspicious, so I'd call the po-lice in the hopes there's some manner of reward available.

I keep it. I could use the money.

Keep it.

I'd do the right thing: drugs, booze and hookers.

Why do I need to be a gentile to answer this? Are you assuming the Jewish response???

Keep it. God will understand. $500,000 buys a lot of salvation.

Why do I need to be a gentile to answer this? Are you assuming the Jewish response???

Damn you, you beat me to it. *shakes fist*

I would keep it. As much as I might feel that I should hand it in, I know I would be able to put the money to good use.

Damn you, you beat me to it. *shakes fist*

Me too. *pouts*

So I'd have half a million euros dating from the seventies?

I'd keep them:)

No much of a moral queary, 500,000 yen does not buy much.

Suppose you just bought a house. you're moved in and everything is unpacked and set up.

one day, while working in your backyard, basement, whereever, you find an old beaten up suitcase hidden away, filled with 500,000 in the currency of your country (for the US, it would be in bundles of $100 bills.) the bills are authentic and non-sequencial. the Suitcase looks decades old and the most current year is in the 1970's.

would you keep it? would you report it in? turn it over to the cops? Would you take that trip around the world?

I know everyone would say they would do the right thing (whatever that is.) but really... what would you do?

Details of the scenario...
There is no indication as to who owns the suitcase, no reports of any large bank hiest or robbery in the area... the last owners of the house had the house for only 10 years and the previous owner died with no known surviving family.
I would call the previous owners and ask them if that old suitcase I found in the basement or wherever belongs to them - without mentioning the money.

If they go "OMG, yes, all our savings are in that thing! Can't believe we forgot it!" I would give it back to them. If they have no idea what I'm talking about, and if all other previous owners in question really are dead, then I would keep it.

I think.

So I'd have half a million euros dating from the seventies?

I'd keep them:)
Damn! I didn't even think of that.

*cancels Round-The-World Trip*

:(

I would probably end up turning it in. I would much rather pay off my student loans but I didn't earn that money so it isn't rightfully mine.

Bleh, morality.

Keep it, of course.

Why do I need to be a gentile to answer this? Are you assuming the Jewish response???
This is my first moral Delima question... so...






and isn't the Be gentle remark usually said when it's your first time?

So I'd have half a million euros dating from the seventies?

I'd keep them:) well, it would be in the currency of your country, so Pounds, Francs, etc...



as for me. While I do know that turning it in is the right thing to do...

I too would keep it. :p I would spend that money on food, staples and other household things while using my paycheck to pay for the morgage, bills and everything else.

well, it would be in the currency of your country, so Pounds, Francs, etc...Euros, which we got in 2002.;) Though I wouldn't mind a million Gulden:p

well, it would be in the currency of your country, so Pounds, Francs, etc...

That would *require* me to hand it over to the police, because the banks will not change such a large sum of money into euros without asking questions.

However, if we pretend that problem does not exist I would still hand it in. If it is not the loot from a crime and if the owners/heirs do not claim it in a year the suitcase would become mine legally anyway.

This is my first moral Delima question... so...

and isn't the Be gentle remark usually said when it's your first time?


Be gentle is usually said, be gentile is not... ;)

No much of a moral queary, 500,000 yen does not buy much.

so you would keep it then?


and what if it was USD?

If this were Britain I would give the money in, if no one claims it within a certian time it becomes mine. And to claim it, you have to be very detailed about what it was & where it came from etc, so it would be virtually imposible to fake a claim

Be gentle is usually said, be gentile is not... ;)

:D

Never let it be said that I ever claimed to be a good speller.

:headbang:

That would *require* me to hand it over to the police, because the banks will not change such a large sum of money into euros without asking questions.

However, if we pretend that problem does not exist I would still hand it in. If it is not the loot from a crime and if the owners/heirs do not claim it in a year the suitcase would become mine legally anyway.

That's fair.

do they still accept other currency or is it now Strictly Euro?

I bought the property and everything in it, so it would be rightfully mine, I think.

Anyway, I'd probably give half away to charity and half would go towards myself, deposited in small increments over time.

no keeping it is completely wrong.



you should give it to me.:)

do they still accept other currency or is it now Strictly Euro?

In the Netherlands shops only accept euros. Guilders can be changed into euros till the end of this year at a postoffice. Banknotes can in principle be handed in till 2032; that however must be done at a branch office of the national bank, and requires ID.

In the Netherlands shops only accept euros. Guilders can be changed into euros till the end of this year at a postoffice. Banknotes can in principle be handed in till 2032; that however must be done at a branch office of the national bank, and requires ID.

wait netherlands doesnt use euros? i was there for a week and thats all i used.

wait netherlands doesnt use euros? i was there for a week and thats all i used.

Yes they do. But some people still find guilders in old socks, under matresses and in suitcases in their garden ;)

Under normal circumstances, I'd be a mensch and donate the money to my local Yeshiva. However since I saw this:
(Please be gentile)
I guess I'd have to just keep the money and spend it on hookers and blow.

SInce you phrase it the way you do, I can definetively say half a million US is enough to buy my morals. If I didn't have a valid legal cliam to the money it might be shakier (depends on how the house was bought) but if I had a valid legal claim to the money I would doubtless not "do the right thing", I am sure that I can find a way to rationalize keeping the money. Without a valid legal claim it would be impossible to be conclusive and would probably depend on my instanateous state of mind, if I felt solvent and was generally happy with my life I would probaly turn it over to the authorities but if I felt poor or unhappy with my life I would probaly keep it. the ammount of money is one of those boarderline ammount, double it and I would turn it in regardless, $10,000 and I probably wouldn't regardles of my state of mind.

A less difficult question to answer is, if I kept it would I notify the taxpeople of my windfall. nope, no question. no round the world trips to raise their suspecions, but it is amazing how well one live only spending $10 a week in taxed cash.

Since I live in Northern California a suitcase with half a million in bills from the 70s stands a reasonable chance of being D.B. Cooper's take. Which means that I couldn't really spend it, at least on anything huge. I'm sure if I just bought normal things with it it would take forever if at all to notice, but if i bought a Porsche then it might be noticed right away.

So I guess I'd have to report it. Which would give me my 15 minutes in the most ass way possible, so I'd try and do it anonymously.

Depends on whether the £500,000 is from before decimilisation. If it is then it's worthless, if not, then I'd probably keep it.

Theoretically you're supposed to "turn the money in to the police," to see if anyone claims it. If no one does in thirty days, it should be returned to you. Trouble is, I don't have any reason to believe the police are going to be any more honest than anyone else (of course, that varies depending upon where you live).

I'd keep the money. I wouldn't make any large purchases with any of it (that would just attract attention). I'd also go to Las Vegas and circulate around twenty or thirty casinos, buying, say $5000 worth of chips, modestly gambling, and then cashing in, in order to get different notes. Then I'd mail the different bills back to myself, and repeat the process until I didn't have any more of the old bills in my possession. Back home, I could increase my spending by saying that I'd had a run of good luck on my gambling trip, but I still wouldn't live much better than I had before, in order to not attract attention.

Depends on whether the £500,000 is from before decimilisation. If it is then it's worthless, . . .

Not necessarily. A collector might pay handsomely for a few of those notes. Don't sell more than a few to any one collector and you might make a lot of money without attracting attention.

Not necessarily. A collector might pay handsomely for a few of those notes. Don't sell more than a few to any one collector and you might make a lot of money without attracting attention.

Aye, I suppose, but I doubt it'd be worth £500,000...

Why do I need to be a gentile to answer this? Are you assuming the Jewish response???

rats. beat me to it.

oh, and I'd put myself through college, first of all. actually I'd probably deliberate a great deal because I'd feel really guilty for not giving it to charity. giving it to the police would not qualify as "the right thing" in my mind. the best thing to do would be to donate it, but barring that, ensuring I could get through college...hell, that much money, through grad-school as well...maybe invest a large chunk of it and try to live off interest? that's probably not enough to live off the interest, anyway. *shrug* the heifer project would definately get a donation...

one day, while working in your backyard, basement, whereever, you find an old beaten up suitcase hidden away, filled with 500,000 in the currency of your country (for the US, it would be in bundles of $100 bills.)
Where is our resident Turk to explain that even though the notes have survived its value has not? :)

I'd buy some cake and turn the rest into pennies.

Where is our resident Turk to explain that even though the notes have survived its value has not? :)

with the Euro I can understand, but bills dating back 30 odd years ago?

Keep a little. Spend a little. Give a little.
But save a lot!!!!! MWahahaaha!!!!111 :eek:

There is no immorality in keeping the money.
You bought the house.
Everything in the house is yours to do with as you please.
If someone somehow forgot that there was $500,000 in the house that is their mistake for not removing before they transferred ownership.

If you found $5 that someone had misplaced in the basement/attic would you make an effort to return it?

I'd do the right thing: drugs, booze and hookers.

Always the right thing.:D

with the money being that old the statute of limitations is probably out for whatever crime may or may not have been commited to obtain it...I bought the house, I own the contents, I keep it.

Cash the money little by little. So.. like everyone else (mostly) has said... KEEP IT! :p

Hell I would keep it, any money that I find on my property is mine. :D

Buy myself a car and start a career in historic Trans Am racing.

I would buy an airplane.

Put $418643 in my mattress and report the remaining amount. The figure won't match any robberies, and will be small enough that they will probably let me keep it if it goes unclaimed. If I don't get to keep it, who cares? Slowly Launder the money in my mattress, until all I have is clean money/assets.