Man forgets cash at Virginia Beach Walmart, customer caught on camera taking it could be charged.

I saw this story earlier on the local news and thought it might make for a good discussion.

So a customer a Wal-mart accidentally leaves 100 $ in the machine at the self checkout line, he when he realized his mistake after 5 minutes he went back in the store to look for it and go figure the 100$ cash was gone.

So they check the tapes and see the next customer to use the machine just puts that 100$ in his pocket. Now that customer could be charged with a crime.

According to Virginia law when you find money you have to try and find the owner???

If I am standing there and see the guy in front of me leave money or drop something I am going to tell him every time.

But if I jusst walk up to a self checkout machine at Wal-Mart and find 100 $ sitting there of course I am gonna grab it.

I have always live by the age old adage " Finders keepers losers weepers".

And I am not gonna just go give it to some employee at Wal-Mart in hopes they can or will even try find the original owner of the 100$.

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - The old saying finders keepers does not apply when you are talking about someone else’s money.

On Mother’s Day a man and his wife said they went to Walmart on the 600 block of Phoenix Drive in Virginia Beach.

The man, who didn’t want to be identified said he was in the self-check out line and got 100 dollars cash back. He said the money he withdrew was supposed to be used towards his mom’s present.

But he said he accidentally left the store and forgot to grab the money out of the cash slot.

wtkr.com...

I can't see that finding money in a machine would be a crime. Was I committing a crime when we were kids and we would go check phone booths to see if there was any change in them? Finders keepers losers weepers applies. If I see money falling from someone's purse or pocket as they pull out keys, I will tell them they lost money. If I see a twenty on the floor in the store, I keep my eyes open, is someone comes around and looks like they are looking for something I will ask, if they say they dropped their money I ask how much, then I will give them the money. I am not stupid enough to start asking someone in the vacinity if they lost money, of course many will say yes.

I am honest, not stupid.

The proper thing to do in this situation is to ask to see a manager and then give it to them.
Yeah, he could have given it to a regular employee, but that's a 50/50 chance they'll just keep it themselves. I worked a job where things were often lost, including cash, and that was just how it was. Sometimes the employees kept what they found and sometimes they turned it in to security, some of whom I have to assume kept things themselves.

That is pretty bogus. This same thing has happened to me at a gas station atm but with a 20$. I looked around, nobody else was even inside.

And i was withdrawing cash from said atm. Whatd i do? I took the extra 20$ and said 'hell yeah!' like any reasonable cash strapped person.

That being said, my grandmother once found a bejamin in a King Sooper's parking lot. She took it inside to customer service and left it with them. A week later, nobody had came in looking for it so they gave her a call at the number she left them and she got the 100$. She was so proud of that story, better person than i forsure but to each their own i suppose.

a reply to: notsure1

When I was 15, I saw an abandoned purse sitting on a table in a mall food court in Houston. I turned it into the nearest booth, then sat there and ate with my friends. About 20 minutes later and we overhear a woman asking around if anyone saw her purse. The cashiers we gave it to denied seeing it, so I went up to the counter and 'politely' reminded them that I turned it in! They conveniently found it.

This anecdote is only, like, 1% relevant to this thread, so sorry!

a reply to: notsure1


No, just no. You don't know how cash straped the other person was and that may have been taken out to help another. What goes around comes around. If a cashier mistakenly give me too much back, I return it. I sleep well at night. It may be normal in your world to keep it but not mine.

Next time you are at a 7-11 or some such store, pay for the purchase of a person behind you.

a reply to: notsure1

According to Virginia law when you find money you have to try and find the owner???

In every State of the Union I know of , you gave to take the money to the authorities . Or any other object
No , it is not finders , keepers
You can be prosecuted

a reply to: notsure1

I had a similar experience with coin star. I went to use it and there was several coins in it from argentina and the UK. It had 25 two pound coins. And some 10 pence etc. I figured this person travelled there alot. I took the money and turned it in to kroger.

Believe it or not at first they told me it was just coins and I had to tell the woman the value. They called me after 4 weeks to ask me if I wanted the coins. From a legal standpoint they were abandoned.

Ps I made a list if the coins good thing I did apparently 10 disappeared but they paid me for them.

originally posted by: notsure1
I have always live by the age old adage " Finders keepers losers weepers".

Not all of us are of that old adage.

Some of us aren't assholes.

a reply to: notsure1

So long as you honestly don't know who's money it is then I do not see this as a crime.
I'm even the type of person that would have stood around for a few mins waiting to see
if anyone came looking for it but if they didn't how would I be able to find the true owner?
Anyone you ask ,"hey did you drop this 100 bill?" is going to say yes even if it is not theirs.
I guess you could walk up to each person near by and ask ," are you missing anything?"
If they say yes and you ask what it was they were missing and they say 100$ then you
know it's there's, otherwise how could you know?

a reply to: liveandlearn

What goes around comes around

In my experience this is not true.
I've seen monsters win the lottery and die happy and old.
I've seen good people have everything they own stolen
and the robbers never caught.

I have done beautiful things for people and I have done horrible things,
rarely have I ever gotten what I deserve.

This world is random and chaotic the sooner you learn that there are no
laws of the universe governing the acts of men the happier you will be.

originally posted by: trollz
The proper thing to do in this situation is to ask to see a manager and then give it to them.
Yeah, he could have given it to a regular employee, but that's a 50/50 chance they'll just keep it themselves. I worked a job where things were often lost, including cash, and that was just how it was. Sometimes the employees kept what they found and sometimes they turned it in to security, some of whom I have to assume kept things themselves.

Two years ago, I saw a purse in a shopping cart in the Walmart parking lot. I looked in the purse for ID. Saw the lady's driver's license and at lots of $20 bills in her wallet.

I took the purse inside and gave it to the Walmart manager on duty. An employee called him out of his office. Maybe I was intruding on his lunch, but the guy wasn't nice. He just took the purse and went back into the bowels of the store somewhere.

If I didn't have out-of-town relatives with me that day, I would have taken the purse to the lady's home.

BTW... why was this thread moved to an off-the-beaten-path section of ATS?
www.abovetopsecret.com...

That was BIG NEWS.. A first!

Quite a few dirt bags in this thread. I hope those of you who take other's money live a long life of being broke ass poor wretches. Especially the guy who shared the story of his grandmother who did the right thing with the $100 bill. Apparently he didn't learn from her generation the right thing to do.

Good luck in life dirt bags.

originally posted by: rickymouse
Finders keepers losers weepers applies.

...thats not a law. what is the law (in this case in virginia) is that you are obligated to make an attempt to give that money/property back to its rightful owner.

Consider it this way..if you notice someone left their keys on some pub counter, you don't get to suddenly find a car.

originally posted by: scraedtosleep
a reply to: liveandlearn

What goes around comes around

In my experience this is not true.
I've seen monsters win the lottery and die happy and old.
I've seen good people have everything they own stolen
and the robbers never caught.

I have done beautiful things for people and I have done horrible things,
rarely have I ever gotten what I deserve.

This world is random and chaotic the sooner you learn that there are no
laws of the universe governing the acts of men the happier you will be.

I think that makes it even more important to try and do the right thing then. No backup, no karma, so we gotta make the world what we want it to be and influence others to do the same.

originally posted by: scraedtosleep
a reply to: liveandlearn

What goes around comes around

In my experience this is not true.
I've seen monsters win the lottery and die happy and old.
I've seen good people have everything they own stolen
and the robbers never caught.

I have done beautiful things for people and I have done horrible things,
rarely have I ever gotten what I deserve.

This world is random and chaotic the sooner you learn that there are no
laws of the universe governing the acts of men the happier you will be.

You must be fairly young, no more than 30-35, unfortunately I can assure you what goes around does come back. Your actions now will determine your future.

a reply to: SaturnFX

I think that makes it even more important to try and do the right thing then. No backup, no karma, so we gotta make the world what we want it to be and influence others to do the same.

Yes I totally agree with this.
In fact I think one of the reasons the world is as dark as it is, is because people wrongly
believe that a "god" or the "universe" or "karma" or "the boggyman" is going to get those
evil people that do those evil things instead of standing up and taking action themselves.

Imagine if all those people of facebook that say my prayers and well wishes are with you
actually did something to help the people that needed it.

originally posted by: SaturnFX

originally posted by: rickymouse
Finders keepers losers weepers applies.

...thats not a law. what is the law (in this case in virginia) is that you are obligated to make an attempt to give that money/property back to its rightful owner.

Consider it this way..if you notice someone left their keys on some pub counter, you don't get to suddenly find a car.

It's theft if any automated machine returns to much money. Bottom line you can claim you didn't know etc but legally you could still be jailed for theft.

originally posted by: tayton

originally posted by: scraedtosleep
a reply to: liveandlearn

What goes around comes around

In my experience this is not true.
I've seen monsters win the lottery and die happy and old.
I've seen good people have everything they own stolen
and the robbers never caught.

I have done beautiful things for people and I have done horrible things,
rarely have I ever gotten what I deserve.

This world is random and chaotic the sooner you learn that there are no
laws of the universe governing the acts of men the happier you will be.

You must be fairly young, no more than 30-35, unfortunately I can assure you what goes around does come back. Your actions now will determine your future.

Your actions do determine your future.
But evil deeds do not always equal a bad future nor does good deeds always equal a good future.
I did a lot of evil things while homeless as a teenager but non of it has any effect on the beautiful life that
I have now.

The UK definition of theft is; any person illegally assuming the rights of ownership, with the intention of permanently depriving the legal owner of the item (s) is guilty of theft. Unless the US /State law is different, taking the cash was an act of theft, how you feel about it is irrelevant.