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$90M accidental deposits--and they get to keep it!

MoodyBlues

MoodyBlues

Compassion is cool!
VIP Member
This morning's news included a segment about one of those cryptocurrency...banks...things...places....accidentally depositing 90 million dollars in customers' accounts. The consumer reporter, David Lazarus, I read on the LA Times and watch on its sister station KTLA, and really like him--and his sense of humor.

Among other things, he said "because there's no adult supervision" with these crypto things, THERE'S NO RECOURSE!!! They're ASKING customers to return the money, but the customers are not obligated to do so. :eek:

He also said something about offering to keep 10% if they return it...but let's see how many actually return it.

Has this changed my [negative] view of cryptocurrency? Yeah--it made it even worse! If "accidents" like this can happen, ANYTHING can happen, and with no recourse or oversight, you'd be stuck.
 
MoodyBlues said:
Yeah, but not the accidental WITHDRAWAL! :eek:
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Anyone can deposit into your crypto account... without your private key, however, they can't take anything out. That's why account holders are being asked to return the money: they can't just withdraw it. I have always lived by a code of honesty and would return the money. Greed may allow users to keep their ill-gotten gains... but karma is a mofo and they may not have any of the fun with it they thought they would.
 
The_Chief said:
Anyone can deposit into your crypto account... without your private key, however, they can't take anything out. That's why account holders are being asked to return the money: they can't just withdraw it. I have always lived by a code of honesty and would return the money. Greed may allow users to keep their ill-gotten gains... but karma is a mofo and they may not have any of the fun with it they thought they would.
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I feel the same way. Many years ago, Bank of America accidentally credited my checking account with a hefty sum. I had logged in while at work, and my jaw dropped when I saw my balance! :eek: I immediately called them to let them know. The thought never even crossed my mind to withdraw it or anything--it wasn't mine, I knew that, and that's all that mattered, so I made sure it was taken care of. It was so long ago, it's hard to remember exactly how it happened; probably a typo, like transposed numbers, on a deposit someone made to their account. If I had been offered 10% just for returning it, I wouldn't have accepted it. It was a mistake, plain and simple; why take a reward for that?!
 
I'm so honest that I'm boring. 10% of 90 million is a steep price to pay for a mistake or glitch. I hope the money is returned and the reward refused.... but in this day and age I'm guessing it was a financial blunder on the grandest scale.
 
I don't know US law, but in the UK you are not entitled to keep money transferred to your account by mistake. In fact I've heard of people ending up in court or even jail for spending money that ended up in their account that way and hence not being able to repay it.

Of course that's regulated finance - I've no idea what legal recourse there might be with a crypto foul-up.

As for a 10% finder's fee, I've just checked some charts and the price fluctuates by more than that most fortnights, so maybe it doesn't feel like such a loss to them?
 
@Hadron I've seen numerous incidents where someone's account had a gigantic, but not valid, deposit. One case was over a billion dollars, IIRC. :o

It's not legal to keep 'found money' like that here in the US either, and since they were all in legitimate banks, there was never any question that the customer couldn't keep the money, nor were they paid for their kind gesture of returning it. :rolleyes:

On the flip-side, I've also seen people BILLED millions or billions of dollars, like for an electric bill. Those were mistakes, too, and the customer was not responsible for paying them. :)
 
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