Money Moral Dilemma: Should I repay money wrongly paid into my account?

John_L_M

Bank error in your favour, collect £100. Have you never played Monopoly? You have not "stolen" the money, as to 'steal' is a verb, it is something you have done. The person receiving the money did not 'do' anything. If you went into someone else's garden and stole an apple from a tree you could be prosecuted for theft. If someone transfers money into your account by mistake then you have done nothing and are not liable under the law. if you conned them by claiming to be a Nigerian prince then you would have 'stolen' as you 'did' something. So legally speaking you have done nothing wrong and keeping the money is not theft, but this is a moral dilemma, not a legal one, I would say that it depends upon who your ex employer was, a charity or small local firm then yes morally it is wrong to keep the money, but what if you worked for a large multinational how about Amazon or Starbucks or even someone like SportsDirect? Would I keep the money in that case? You bet I would, without a second thought on the matter, I would open a separate savings account and hope they never ask for it back.:beer:

Pollycat

phryne wrote: »

This is the Hysterical Harpies board, but other fora on this site are just as bad, I've found. I started a thread the other day about clapping versus jazz hands, and within about half a dozen posts it had got to people saying I was glad a girl had died from eating sesame seeds!!


(Don't ask.. )

This is the Marriages, Relationships and Families board.

I read the thread you started on DT. You are exaggerating.


I'm sure other forums are available if you're not happy with the content of MSE boards.

LesD

Pollycat wrote: »

I find it shocking and appalling that someone actually needs advice on this.

Or even that someone in authority should consider this a dilemma!

NaughtiusMaximus

Ozzuk wrote: »

Indeed, what kind of person would this be a dilemma for?

The sort of person who:

Is unsure whether or not it's acceptable to steal the winnings from their child's premium bonds
Wants to charge their flatmate if they eat leftover food which would otherwise be thrown away
Plans to bill their friend for a parking ticket because they couldn't be bothered to research parking availability at a railway station

TBagpuss

crispy_duck wrote: »

This also contains the text:

It's not clear to me which one of these would apply in this case. Blackmail, fraud and stolen goods can trivially be excluded, and I also don't think it's accurate to say that the money derives from theft - that would suggest that the former employer had been engaged in theft and passed the proceeds on to the former employee.

It's interesting to note that the above quoted text was added to the Theft Act in 2006 - it looks to me as if that were intended to specifically exempt the situation being described from being a criminal offence. That doesn't mean, of course, that the ex-employee has any moral or legal right to keep the money, just that it's a civil matter rather than a criminal one.

I think technically the money is stolen at the point that you withdraw or spend it, a which point you meet the criteria of the theft act as you re dishonestly appropriating it.

this case would seem to show that it does apply - the case was heard in 2008 although the incident in question was at the end of 2006, so presumably after that was added to the statute.

Whether it is on the stolen goods element or whether fraud can include a failure to act, I am unsure of. But it would appear that it can be a criminal offence.

It may be that if you simply stay silent but do not sped the money that you would escape criminal prosecution, but as you say, it would be dishonest either way.

pickledonionspaceraider

Obviously there are a lot of folk taking the moral high ground on this

But i'll be honest...I'd keep quiet in the hope of them not noticing

Not spend it for a bit..and if it went undiscovered for a while, I would consider it mine - and honestly, not feel the slightest bit guilty for it

I found a fiver on the floor, in the rain, once. Outside a garage. I slipped it into my pocket, instead of handing it in to the cashier (for them to slip in their pocket)

I don't contemplate creative use of by bread knife, in my spare time. I am literally cringing that someone above in post 21 has attempted to compare this moral dilemma to knife crime. Maybe we should start sending people back to Psychiatric units for stealing loaves of bread


#JacktheRipper

#SerialTeaLeaf

stingyscot

Should I repay money wrongly paid into my account?Yes, yes, and, to eliminate doubt, YES!

crispy_duck

TBagpuss wrote: »

this case would seem to show that it does apply - the case was heard in 2008 although the incident in question was at the end of 2006, so presumably after that was added to the statute.

According to this the Fraud Act 2006 came into effect in early 2007, however I've found another case from 2014 which features some of the most senstational whining about how unfair it all is that I've ever seen:

Michaela Hutchings says she is being made an example of because she’s attractive.

Yet she got a lighter sentence than the two in the story you linked - they must be absolute stunners!:rotfl:

Gavin83

crispy_duck wrote: »

According to this the Fraud Act 2006 came into effect in early 2007, however I've found another case from 2014 which features some of the most senstational whining about how unfair it all is that I've ever seen:



Yet she got a lighter sentence than the two in the story you linked - they must be absolute stunners!:rotfl:

I think that's the perfect story for those people in this thread who are claiming it isn't theft. Clearly the law disagrees with you. Receiving the money accidentally clearly isn't theft. Spending it and trying to get out of paying it back is. Technically speaking noticing the money and keeping it to one side hoping they won't notice is also theft, although admittedly you're unlikely to get in trouble for this.

For all those claiming it's happened to them and the company didn't want the money back, I'll be honest, I'm somewhat skeptical, especially for the guy who joined just to post this. And for the person that claims it wouldn't result in a negative reference, really? In their position your next reference would be informing your potential employer that you're a thief. Good luck getting the job with that.

Pollycat

pickledonionspaceraider wrote: »

Obviously there are a lot of folk taking the moral high ground on this

But i'll be honest...I'd keep quiet in the hope of them not noticing

Not spend it for a bit..and if it went undiscovered for a while, I would consider it mine - and honestly, not feel the slightest bit guilty for it

I found a fiver on the floor, in the rain, once. Outside a garage. I slipped it into my pocket, instead of handing it in to the cashier (for them to slip in their pocket)

I don't contemplate creative use of by bread knife, in my spare time. I am literally cringing that someone above in post 21 has attempted to compare this moral dilemma to knife crime. Maybe we should start sending people back to Psychiatric units for stealing loaves of bread


#JacktheRipper

#SerialTeaLeaf

Not sure about anybody else but I think the bit in bold is very different to the original MMD.