You know that square on the Monopoly board that says, "Bank error in your favor, collect $200?" Turns out, that's not real.
36-year-old Robert Williams and his 35-year-old wife Tiffany from Montoursville, Pennsylvania got a giant boost to their bank account back on May 31st when a teller accidentally deposited $120,000 into their account! Their balance before that? $1,121. So yeah, BIG mistake.
So what would you do in this situation? Tell the bank about the mistake, or spend the money?
Well, Rob and Tiffany decided to SPEND! They ran out and bought an SUV, two four-wheelers, a camper, and a car trailer, they paid off all their bills and car repairs, and gave $15,000 to friends.
And everything was just fine and dandy, until the bank realized the error and contacted Rob and Tiffany. Apparently "finders keepers" isn't official bank policy, because the bank took their $120,000 back and transferred it to the correct account. Problem solved, right? Wrong!
Robert and Tiffany were told they had to return all the money they'd spent, plus they were hit with $107,000 in overdraft fees. They tried to ghost the bank to get out of it, but the bank called the cops and now Robert and Tiffany have been arrested on felony theft charges.
It's actually comical to me that they thought they could get away with spending all the money with no repercussions, and that they actually thought they could hide from the bank once the mistake was realized!!
I know some of y'all are thinking, "Hey, if the bank wanted the money, they should have been more careful!" And I get it...I do. The whole your-mistake-is-not-my-problem thing. But you HAVE to know they're going to figure it out at some point, right?? Let this be a lesson in case this ever happens to you!
[WNEP]