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I am very glad that the person who received the cash did the right thing and told the police immediately. I have to think it would be pretty tempting to keep th

I am very glad that the person who received the cash did the right thing and told the police immediately. I have to think it would be pretty tempting to keep the cash, so it's good that at least one person has some integrity.

skilled 2y ago
My immediate thought was that I couldn’t do it for two reasons: - fear of getting caught - conscience I suppose it depends on your own situation also. I can see someone else doing it, but personally I could never handle that kind of stress. Things can come to light years later. But the story itself is crazy. The person who denied this money probably needs to find a new place to live out of fear of retaliation.
- tombert 2y ago
  I'm almost positive I would have reported it as well, but I'm in a relatively financially stable situation; an extra $120,000 would of course be nice, but it's not the difference between "eating" and "not eating" or "being homeless" or "not being homeless" for me. I was extremely broke in 2016, to a point where I was being sued by my landlord for back rent because I had stopped paying it because I had no money, and it's something I think about a lot because it has made it easier to empathize with people who do questionable things when desperate. If someone had plopped $120,000 of cash on my doorstep in 2016, I would like to think I would do the right thing and report it to the cops, and I am pretty sure I would, but I can't say that with certainty.
- blacksmith_tb 2y ago
  Exactly, plata o plomo (silver or lead, that is). Presumably some people might also realize it's not trivial to actually bank $120K in cash, and don't look forward to pretending they had a series of garage sales and ebay successes (which the IRS still would like you to report...)
93po 2y ago
I can't see a situation in which I would keep the money. 1. I'm risking many years of jail for accepting it, the risk of getting caught is high, and the expected return from not working while in prison/difficult work years after prison is very negative 2. It may not be a legitimate offer and instead someone setting me up and reporting me because they think I'm likely to vote the "wrong" way, and they want me off the jury 3. They're likely to visit me again to steal the money back/harm me after they're off the hook, and there's nothing I can do to stop them without admitting my own guilt to the cops 4. They're likely to blackmail me after having recorded the encounter 5. It's possibly stolen and traced money that I will get caught using and then investigated as to where it came from 6. It's really hard to spend $120k in cash without really obvious trail when audited that it came from illicit means 7. They're likely to get really upset if they don't manage to bribe everyone and it results in a hung jury/want their money back, which is the likely outcome if they don't manage to bribe every juror There's really no feasible world in which this makes sense. But if I was really low income or desperate for money, I can see why someone would risk it
- tombert 2y ago
  I agree with all your points, and for the most part $120,000 of random cash would really just be a lifetime supply of gas and groceries. I mentioned in a sibling comment, though, that if I were as broke as I was in 2016, it might not have been quite as cut and dry with me accepting it. I was pretty desperate then.
  - 93po 2y ago
    But when under suspicion years later, and there's no record of you buying groceries for the past three years with your cards, or spending massively less than you should have, and no records of ATM cash withdrawals, it's painting a pretty clear picture of you spending money that you didn't earn. Your best bet might be pretending to become an artist and then selling paintings for cash at art shows, and then reporting said income and getting taxed on it. But these frequent large cash deposits trigger mandatory reporting by your bank, and if done frequently enough for a large enough amount of money, you might get people asking you questions
bestouff 2y ago
How about just returning $20k to the police and telling you never had more ? Does that look half-honest enough to you ?

skilled 2y ago

My immediate thought was that I couldn’t do it for two reasons: - fear of getting caught - conscience I suppose it depends on your own situation also. I can see someone else doing it, but personally I could never handle that kind of stress. Things can come to light years later. But the story itself is crazy. The person who denied this money probably needs to find a new place to live out of fear of retaliation.

tombert 2y ago
I'm almost positive I would have reported it as well, but I'm in a relatively financially stable situation; an extra $120,000 would of course be nice, but it's not the difference between "eating" and "not eating" or "being homeless" or "not being homeless" for me. I was extremely broke in 2016, to a point where I was being sued by my landlord for back rent because I had stopped paying it because I had no money, and it's something I think about a lot because it has made it easier to empathize with people who do questionable things when desperate. If someone had plopped $120,000 of cash on my doorstep in 2016, I would like to think I would do the right thing and report it to the cops, and I am pretty sure I would, but I can't say that with certainty.
blacksmith_tb 2y ago
Exactly, plata o plomo (silver or lead, that is). Presumably some people might also realize it's not trivial to actually bank $120K in cash, and don't look forward to pretending they had a series of garage sales and ebay successes (which the IRS still would like you to report...)

93po 2y ago

I can't see a situation in which I would keep the money. 1. I'm risking many years of jail for accepting it, the risk of getting caught is high, and the expected return from not working while in prison/difficult work years after prison is very negative 2. It may not be a legitimate offer and instead someone setting me up and reporting me because they think I'm likely to vote the "wrong" way, and they want me off the jury 3. They're likely to visit me again to steal the money back/harm me after they're off the hook, and there's nothing I can do to stop them without admitting my own guilt to the cops 4. They're likely to blackmail me after having recorded the encounter 5. It's possibly stolen and traced money that I will get caught using and then investigated as to where it came from 6. It's really hard to spend $120k in cash without really obvious trail when audited that it came from illicit means 7. They're likely to get really upset if they don't manage to bribe everyone and it results in a hung jury/want their money back, which is the likely outcome if they don't manage to bribe every juror There's really no feasible world in which this makes sense. But if I was really low income or desperate for money, I can see why someone would risk it

tombert 2y ago
I agree with all your points, and for the most part $120,000 of random cash would really just be a lifetime supply of gas and groceries. I mentioned in a sibling comment, though, that if I were as broke as I was in 2016, it might not have been quite as cut and dry with me accepting it. I was pretty desperate then.
- 93po 2y ago
  But when under suspicion years later, and there's no record of you buying groceries for the past three years with your cards, or spending massively less than you should have, and no records of ATM cash withdrawals, it's painting a pretty clear picture of you spending money that you didn't earn. Your best bet might be pretending to become an artist and then selling paintings for cash at art shows, and then reporting said income and getting taxed on it. But these frequent large cash deposits trigger mandatory reporting by your bank, and if done frequently enough for a large enough amount of money, you might get people asking you questions

bestouff 2y ago

How about just returning $20k to the police and telling you never had more ? Does that look half-honest enough to you ?