found money in cashpoint...

molly24_2

I haven't been to the police yet - have just been on the internet to find my local station. Hopefully they won't think its a lost cause and will report it.

molly24_2

Molly's bank are obviously complete idiots too. As CleosMum says it's the work of an instant for the bank to find out who transacted immediately before you. I'm assuming, Molly, that you did tell them you actually used the machine, rather than just found the money there and wandered off with it?

I explained the whole thing and told them i used the machine - it is my bank so i could give them my account details and the time and they could see the account details of the person who used it before me.

MarkyMarkD

It sounds like a case of the familiar "using Data Protection Act as an excuse to avoid using common-sense".

cinnabar

The bank wasn't necessarily being useless when they said they couldn't find out who the money belonged to - if you use your bank card in your own bank's ATM then they can trace the account holder by the card number, but if you'd used, say, a Lloyds card in a Barclays machine, then Barclays would be able to see a card number but they would be unable to trace the account holder as they'd have no access to Lloyds customer information. In fact IIRC you wouldn't necessarily be able to tell which bank it was from the card number anyway - the first few numbers on a card are linked to the bank of issue but it would be pretty unlikely that most bank staff would know which numbers represented which bank. The bank i worked in had a separate dept that dealt with all these kind of things 24 hours after they occurred anyway so much easier (and more efficient i'd say, given my experiences trying to deal with other banks!) to just go through the set procedures.

jo1972

The police will investigate who the money belongs to and that way you know it'll be going to the rightful owner if it's found who it belongs to.

Just out of curiousity, how much money was it? I can't imagine anyone (that I know anyway, including myself), that wouldn't have been straight into the bank I tried to withdraw some as soon as the doors opened!

got-it-spend-it

The cashpoint will be able to identify who the money belongs to, providing the person banks at the bank the cashpoint belongs to (IYSWIM). They can just look at the details of the transaction before yours (or if you know what time they can just look for the correct amount on the transaction log).

GISI

arthur_dent_2

I would inform the police that you found it and then put it somewhere safe in YOUR possession. I believe that if it is not claimed then you can keep it after a while. However I would not trust the police to actually give it to you.

boredofbeingathome

I had something similar happen to me. I was withdrawing money from a machine and it snatched most of it back before i had chance to withdraw it all. The rigmarole which followed was laughable, luckily i had witnesses-
took their phone nos, the Spar had no contact no to ring about transaction. Went to another spar and found the number. I then gave them all the details, they immediately checked and noted there was a problem with the transaction( so your bank can check!) I then had to get in touch with my bank-tried phone and was told i had to go in personally. Went in and was told i had to fill in a transaction dispute form. Gave the bank all the details, log of phonecalls etc. I had to wait 14 working days to get my money back. There is a chain of protocol which they go through-however ultimately they should be able to return the money to the original withdrawee if they follow the chain, and it is also found that he/she had lodged a complaint about money left.

morg_monster

Two related stories I thought I'd relay to you...

When i was a wee teen, I was in an ATM queue with my BF. The guy before him left £20 in the ATM. My BF picked it up and ran after him to give him his money. The guy said "Are you saying I'm ***** stupid? Of course I didn't leave my **** money in the ATM, you *****. **** off". My bf was left there with his jaw on the floor - we were only 14 at the time!
So we had a unexpected trip to the cinema and a nice lunch out on that moron. (It was 1994, £20 went a long way then...).

And another story... my cousin thought her phone was stolen out of her handbag while on a shopping trip. She used her sisters phone to write a text to herself basically saying, you lowlife scum, I can't believe you stole my phone, hope you rot in hell. She then got an (IMO) extremely restrained text back saying "I didn't steal your phone, I found it on the floor in X shop, would appreciate you not calling me a thief, where shall we meet for me to return it to you?"
Cousin was extremely bashful when she went to pick it up and bought a bunch of flowers... (turned out to be a bloke who'd picked it up though, haha).

raq

PandaPants wrote: »

I found £300 in a cashpoint a few years back, there was no receipt so i took it to the police. The person didn't claim it, so i got it a couple of days before i went to New York on holiday...
Honesty really does pay... :rotfl:

that's great, well done you.