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An acquaintance of mine was accidentally wired about $100k when it was supposed to be $5k. Before it could be reversed, they moved accounts and immediately boug

An acquaintance of mine was accidentally wired about $100k when it was supposed to be $5k. Before it could be reversed, they moved accounts and immediately bought a one way flight out of country. They then changed all socials and handles. They are now ignoring all court documents and are on track to get a default judgement against them. Their rationale? “It’s mine, they owed me this”. They are 100% convinced that they are in the right, not just that they can keep it but that they actually intended to send them this to begin with. I get it $100k isn’t nothing but they’re also throwing their life away for less than what they used to make a year in salary. People do weird things when given sudden access to money or power.

SXX 3mo ago
> People do weird things when given sudden access to money or power. Given your story its not sounds like this is power grab. More like they actually on spectrum and have some mental issues on top this. Or had mental breakdown because something happened before that money arrived. Situations when people do something weird, bad or just plain evil for money and power are usually logical. E.g people think they got access to more money they percieve they can earn in next decade, or ever, something that settles them for life. Earning more than $100,000 and throwing everything away for $95,000 only make sense if you are terminally ill. Or if it was never your real identify in first place and its well planned scam.
- decimalenough 3mo ago
  If you're earning $100k in Silicon Valley, your expenses will swallow up almost all of that. A sudden $100k windfall, on the other hand, tax free and suitably invested,will let you live for years quite comfortably in many poor countries.
  - SXX 3mo ago
    Sorry to disappoint you, but no you cannot live "comfortably" in "poor countries" for $100,000 for "years". Well, unless you mean like two years. I lived across South East Asia for more than decade and now live here full time. I have to live on around $20,000 / year most of the time since starting my company. And I do not live anywhere close to what average US / EU citizen will call "comfortable" let alone people from valley. Stories of rich living for cheap in poor countries its just that: stories. It only possible if you preserve your US salary. For $50,000 post tax a year you can live well unless you have kids that need not a "poor country education".
    - deleted 3mo ago
      [deleted]
    - lobsterthief 3mo ago
      I agree (from semi-relevant experience). Also, any “poor” country that’s inexpensive enough to fit this requirements probably isn’t one you’d voluntarily live in. Side note for the original commenter: It would be kinder and more accurate to state “lower cost of living countries” than “poor countries”. There are numerous lower COL countries that offer a higher quality of life a than that of the US but they aren’t “poor” (I moved to one).
      - SXX 3mo ago
        And likely "suitable" countries are not the ones you want to do any investments or even transfer 100,000 to local bank. I understand that side note wasnt for me, but yeah most of cheaper developing South East Asia countries are not "poor". Though there are ones you can call that, but again in a such countries you dont really want anyone to know you have $100,000 somewhere on a bank because its can get unsafe very fast. Its either "live just a little better than locals" or get in trouble. PS: I talking of Myanmar, most of Laos and Cambodia.
        Paradigm2020 3mo ago
        I've lived in Vietnam on and off for several months at a time. One of the safest countries anywhere ( as long as you don't badmouth the government) Easy to live on sub 700$ a month if you're happy with air conditioned studio, mostly asian food, scooter and not going to high end bars. Get the 1 bedroom apartment, quite often takeaway/delivered western food sub 1500$ a month. Go eat out western food everyday, live in a 3 bedroom in the nicest district go to fancy bars etc and yeah maybe you can reach your 5k a month... People have no clue / are not willing to experience adjustment for 3 weeks... But easily possible to live here for budgets mentioned above...
        SXX 3mo ago
        If you okay to live like vietnamese person do yes you can live on $700 just fine. Especily if you single, healthy and love driving on motorbikes through rain and take a bit of risks. Plus health insurance like Cigna for $100-200 unless you want to pay $10,000-20,000 in vinmec if you crash on a motorbike or get other serious sickness. Plus border runs like $200-300 three times a year or often for cheaper depend on your paasport. Problem that I doubt its how average SWE on HN imagine "comfortable" living. Then if you have a partner who is not remote worker and kids there will be other surpeises for you.
SteveGerencser 3mo ago
I had a client send me an ACH that was legitimately a fat finger extra zero. For me, it was a "lot" of truck payments. For them, it was a rounding error that they were unaware of until I reached out and let them know about their mistake. I couldn't wait to make it right with them because it bothered me so much because suddenly I had a pile of money that was theirs and not mine.
- fibonachos 3mo ago
  I had a similar situation where someone had their email client configured with my address in the reply-to header. We shared a first initial, last name, and isp… also happened to be my email address. His email was firsnamelastname, or something similar. I emailed the guy several times explaining how to fix it, and that I was getting a lot of his business correspondence. Never heard from him. Then one day I get a Chase Zelle email saying that someone was sending me money. Something like $500. Logged into the Chase app and sure enough, could have taken it with the click of a button. I contacted the sender to explain the situation and recommended they call the intended recipient for a correct email address. Couldn’t image just taking it knowing it wasn’t intended for me.
  - sfn42 3mo ago
    Had a similar experience. Was at a party when I suddenly received a notification from our country's equivalent to cashapp/Venmo. It was about $450, so not a lot but enough to be significant to many people. About a minute later I get a call from a seemingly young man who's very stressed telling me he sent the money to the wrong number and asking me to send it back. I told him don't worry I'll get your money back but I need to contact customer service first just to make sure it's safe for me to do so. I wanted to avoid some kind of charge back scam or similar. So I called CS, they said it was safe to return the money and so I did and the guy called back just to thank me.
- xp84 3mo ago
  This reminds me of the terribly designed timesheet system I was using earlier this year, where I accidentally logged like 55 hours of work for something instead of 55 minutes… I got a shocking direct deposit that week and had to mail them back a large check. Really hope they definitely don’t mess up the 1099!
amazingman 3mo ago
This honestly sounds like mental illness.
- appplication 3mo ago
  Honestly yes, that’s most likely a major factor
- soraminazuki 3mo ago
  Nah, it doesn't even sound true.
delusional 3mo ago
> They are 100% convinced that they are in the right, not just that they can keep it but that they actually intended to send them this to begin with. They quite clearly do not believe that. If they did, they wouldn't need to go into hiding or leave the country.
groundzeros2015 3mo ago
> immediately bought a one way flight out of country Is this referring to a foreign national who can leave at any time?
ElProlactin 3mo ago
> People do weird things when given sudden access to money or power. It's more that money and power enable you to be who you really are, and amplify your worst traits if you're lacking self-awareness. There are many people who are rich/wealthy and/or powerful and they're decent individuals living relatively ordinary lives. You don't read about most of them because they're "normal".
- hawaiianbrah 3mo ago
  > It's more that money and power enable you to be who you really are If you’re only a certain way when you have money and power, is it really “who you really are”?
  - Gooblebrai 3mo ago
    Spot on
  - pdpi 3mo ago
    If the only reason you didn't behave that way to begin with is that you lack the money and power to evade the consequences, then yes. You really are that person.
    - chii 3mo ago
      while i somewhat agree with that reasoning, it can go too far - most people would murder and kill if there weren't any consequences to doing so. But is it right to say who they really are as being murderers?
      - pdpi 3mo ago
        Most people would what? No, I don’t believe that’s true.
      - hgffrur 3mo ago
        > most people would murder and kill if there weren't any consequences to doing so …yeah, it’s fitting that sama was the top user here. What a wretched hive of scum and villainy.
JumpCrisscross 3mo ago
> they moved accounts and immediately bought a one way flight out of country To be fair this is smarter than like 95% of white-collar criminals.
- danudey 3mo ago
  The number of people we got to see on TikTok discover that you can write yourself a cheque for $100k and then get access to that money as though it was some kind of infinite money glitch that no one had ever thought of, manufacturing money out of nowhere that no one would try to get back... ridiculous.
palmotea 3mo ago
> An acquaintance of mine was accidentally wired about $100k when it was supposed to be $5k. Before it could be reversed, they moved accounts and immediately bought a one way flight out of country. They then changed all socials and handles. They are now ignoring all court documents and are on track to get a default judgement against them. $95k does not seems like enough money to totally upend your life like that for.
- embedding-shape 3mo ago
  > $95k does not seems like enough money to totally upend your life like that for. That's because most of us here are so used to the amount of money we earn. But for people who literally struggling with month-to-month payments, 100K feels like a life-changing amount of money. If they were just saving month by month, they might have never reached that amount in their entire life. Our perspectives here on HN are very one-sided when it comes to things like this, anyone who been poor previously (or is currently) could attest to this.
  - davidwritesbugs 3mo ago
    Indeed, a lot of HN readers don't realise their good luck in life. It takes a dose of poverty to bring perspective.
  - swiftcoder 3mo ago
    I don't know, the very same comment mentions that the person was earning 6 figures. Less-than-a-year's-salary is definitely a weird thing to throw a comfortable 6 figure income out the window for - it's not like 95k is "never work a day in your life" money.
    - embedding-shape 3mo ago
      > I don't know, the very same comment mentions that the person was earning 6 figures. What does that mean for where and how the person live though? How much money were they realistically having left at the end of the month? 6 figures surely means a lot in some places, in others not so much and maybe they didn't have much left after all. Even with 1K left in a month on average, that's 95 months (~8 years) of saving for the same amount, maybe it was always the plan to just get the fuck out once they got close to 100K or whatever. Humans do rash things, especially when some shortcut appears. But all this is also speculation and hypothesizing, who knows the real reasons behind it for sure.
UltraSane 3mo ago
$95,000 isn't that much to destroy your life over.
- bloppe 3mo ago
  I'll do it for free
- joe_mamba 3mo ago
  There's homeless people living on the streets or people in jail who destroyed their lives for way less than 95k. Often for nothing, like throwing a punch over a parking spot argument. You'd be surprised how far down poor impulsive choices can drag you down even when there's no money on the line.
- swat535 3mo ago
  I think we should consider our privilege if we are in a position to think that 95,000 isn't that much money..
  - csomar 3mo ago
    What privilege? Anyone's life (someone who lives in the Valley) is worth more than 95k. Anyone who is a software engineer at Apple, is definitively worth more than 95k. The kid is dumb. Not sure how Apple interview processes are these days.
throw-the-towel 3mo ago
Hell, I used to know a guy who did this to steal a monitor from work. Went all the way down to Panama or something.
test6554 3mo ago
This reminds me of the kids in MR. Deeds. Kid 1: What are you going to do with your $20,000 Kid2: quit school Homeless man: good idea, school is for fools!!
rmnclmnt 3mo ago
> People do weird things when given sudden access to money or power. 10 years ago my last boss told me one last advice before going onto entrepreneur ventures: « be careful, people do become crazy and stupid with money » (and I guess he knew what he was talking about…)
nathan_compton 3mo ago
100k really isn't that much money in the grand scheme of things, especially because they will probably get caught anyway.
gcanyon 3mo ago
There's a line from the movie The Way of the Gun that I love about this. The number is higher, but it still applies. Some criminals are loading a $15 million ransom into the back of a truck, and a younger criminal says, "Boy, $15 million is a lot of money, huh?" and James Caan, playing an older, wiser criminal says, "Money? $15 million is not 'money'. It's a motive, with a universal adapter on it."
tekawade 3mo ago
[dead]
ChrisMarshallNY 3mo ago
They upended their life for $100K? I wouldn’t do that for a million (these days).
- FireBeyond 3mo ago
  Was talking to a lawyer, and tells me how often he has clients say (after a crime, and while trying to resolve things), "We've got this far [in trying to fix it], don't worry, I'm not stupid enough to screw it up". His response, generally, "My career is built on people who did dumber things, and for less, so..."
catlifeonmars 3mo ago
Maybe there were other factors? Maybe they were leaning towards leaving anyway and this influx of cash enabled them to do so? It’s a stupid idea, for sure, but I think the explanation that “people do weird things when faced with a lot of money” is not really all that explanatory.
mnahkies 3mo ago
Finance somehow accidentally paid me approximately a whole years salary at once when they did the first payroll run after we were acquired. My first thought was I hope they didn't make this mistake for everyone, and second thought how do I safely return this. (Turns out it was a one off mistake, and returning the excess was pretty straightforward though probably the largest bank transfer I've ever made)

SXX 3mo ago

> People do weird things when given sudden access to money or power. Given your story its not sounds like this is power grab. More like they actually on spectrum and have some mental issues on top this. Or had mental breakdown because something happened before that money arrived. Situations when people do something weird, bad or just plain evil for money and power are usually logical. E.g people think they got access to more money they percieve they can earn in next decade, or ever, something that settles them for life. Earning more than $100,000 and throwing everything away for $95,000 only make sense if you are terminally ill. Or if it was never your real identify in first place and its well planned scam.

decimalenough 3mo ago
If you're earning $100k in Silicon Valley, your expenses will swallow up almost all of that. A sudden $100k windfall, on the other hand, tax free and suitably invested,will let you live for years quite comfortably in many poor countries.
- SXX 3mo ago
  Sorry to disappoint you, but no you cannot live "comfortably" in "poor countries" for $100,000 for "years". Well, unless you mean like two years. I lived across South East Asia for more than decade and now live here full time. I have to live on around $20,000 / year most of the time since starting my company. And I do not live anywhere close to what average US / EU citizen will call "comfortable" let alone people from valley. Stories of rich living for cheap in poor countries its just that: stories. It only possible if you preserve your US salary. For $50,000 post tax a year you can live well unless you have kids that need not a "poor country education".
  - deleted 3mo ago
    [deleted]
  - lobsterthief 3mo ago
    I agree (from semi-relevant experience). Also, any “poor” country that’s inexpensive enough to fit this requirements probably isn’t one you’d voluntarily live in. Side note for the original commenter: It would be kinder and more accurate to state “lower cost of living countries” than “poor countries”. There are numerous lower COL countries that offer a higher quality of life a than that of the US but they aren’t “poor” (I moved to one).
    - SXX 3mo ago
      And likely "suitable" countries are not the ones you want to do any investments or even transfer 100,000 to local bank. I understand that side note wasnt for me, but yeah most of cheaper developing South East Asia countries are not "poor". Though there are ones you can call that, but again in a such countries you dont really want anyone to know you have $100,000 somewhere on a bank because its can get unsafe very fast. Its either "live just a little better than locals" or get in trouble. PS: I talking of Myanmar, most of Laos and Cambodia.
      - Paradigm2020 3mo ago
        I've lived in Vietnam on and off for several months at a time. One of the safest countries anywhere ( as long as you don't badmouth the government) Easy to live on sub 700$ a month if you're happy with air conditioned studio, mostly asian food, scooter and not going to high end bars. Get the 1 bedroom apartment, quite often takeaway/delivered western food sub 1500$ a month. Go eat out western food everyday, live in a 3 bedroom in the nicest district go to fancy bars etc and yeah maybe you can reach your 5k a month... People have no clue / are not willing to experience adjustment for 3 weeks... But easily possible to live here for budgets mentioned above...
        SXX 3mo ago
        If you okay to live like vietnamese person do yes you can live on $700 just fine. Especily if you single, healthy and love driving on motorbikes through rain and take a bit of risks. Plus health insurance like Cigna for $100-200 unless you want to pay $10,000-20,000 in vinmec if you crash on a motorbike or get other serious sickness. Plus border runs like $200-300 three times a year or often for cheaper depend on your paasport. Problem that I doubt its how average SWE on HN imagine "comfortable" living. Then if you have a partner who is not remote worker and kids there will be other surpeises for you.

SteveGerencser 3mo ago

I had a client send me an ACH that was legitimately a fat finger extra zero. For me, it was a "lot" of truck payments. For them, it was a rounding error that they were unaware of until I reached out and let them know about their mistake. I couldn't wait to make it right with them because it bothered me so much because suddenly I had a pile of money that was theirs and not mine.

fibonachos 3mo ago
I had a similar situation where someone had their email client configured with my address in the reply-to header. We shared a first initial, last name, and isp… also happened to be my email address. His email was firsnamelastname, or something similar. I emailed the guy several times explaining how to fix it, and that I was getting a lot of his business correspondence. Never heard from him. Then one day I get a Chase Zelle email saying that someone was sending me money. Something like $500. Logged into the Chase app and sure enough, could have taken it with the click of a button. I contacted the sender to explain the situation and recommended they call the intended recipient for a correct email address. Couldn’t image just taking it knowing it wasn’t intended for me.
- sfn42 3mo ago
  Had a similar experience. Was at a party when I suddenly received a notification from our country's equivalent to cashapp/Venmo. It was about $450, so not a lot but enough to be significant to many people. About a minute later I get a call from a seemingly young man who's very stressed telling me he sent the money to the wrong number and asking me to send it back. I told him don't worry I'll get your money back but I need to contact customer service first just to make sure it's safe for me to do so. I wanted to avoid some kind of charge back scam or similar. So I called CS, they said it was safe to return the money and so I did and the guy called back just to thank me.
xp84 3mo ago
This reminds me of the terribly designed timesheet system I was using earlier this year, where I accidentally logged like 55 hours of work for something instead of 55 minutes… I got a shocking direct deposit that week and had to mail them back a large check. Really hope they definitely don’t mess up the 1099!

amazingman 3mo ago

This honestly sounds like mental illness.

appplication 3mo ago
Honestly yes, that’s most likely a major factor
soraminazuki 3mo ago
Nah, it doesn't even sound true.

delusional 3mo ago

> They are 100% convinced that they are in the right, not just that they can keep it but that they actually intended to send them this to begin with. They quite clearly do not believe that. If they did, they wouldn't need to go into hiding or leave the country.

groundzeros2015 3mo ago

> immediately bought a one way flight out of country Is this referring to a foreign national who can leave at any time?

ElProlactin 3mo ago

> People do weird things when given sudden access to money or power. It's more that money and power enable you to be who you really are, and amplify your worst traits if you're lacking self-awareness. There are many people who are rich/wealthy and/or powerful and they're decent individuals living relatively ordinary lives. You don't read about most of them because they're "normal".

hawaiianbrah 3mo ago
> It's more that money and power enable you to be who you really are If you’re only a certain way when you have money and power, is it really “who you really are”?
- Gooblebrai 3mo ago
  Spot on
- pdpi 3mo ago
  If the only reason you didn't behave that way to begin with is that you lack the money and power to evade the consequences, then yes. You really are that person.
  - chii 3mo ago
    while i somewhat agree with that reasoning, it can go too far - most people would murder and kill if there weren't any consequences to doing so. But is it right to say who they really are as being murderers?
    - pdpi 3mo ago
      Most people would what? No, I don’t believe that’s true.
    - hgffrur 3mo ago
      > most people would murder and kill if there weren't any consequences to doing so …yeah, it’s fitting that sama was the top user here. What a wretched hive of scum and villainy.

JumpCrisscross 3mo ago

> they moved accounts and immediately bought a one way flight out of country To be fair this is smarter than like 95% of white-collar criminals.

danudey 3mo ago
The number of people we got to see on TikTok discover that you can write yourself a cheque for $100k and then get access to that money as though it was some kind of infinite money glitch that no one had ever thought of, manufacturing money out of nowhere that no one would try to get back... ridiculous.

palmotea 3mo ago

> An acquaintance of mine was accidentally wired about $100k when it was supposed to be $5k. Before it could be reversed, they moved accounts and immediately bought a one way flight out of country. They then changed all socials and handles. They are now ignoring all court documents and are on track to get a default judgement against them. $95k does not seems like enough money to totally upend your life like that for.

embedding-shape 3mo ago
> $95k does not seems like enough money to totally upend your life like that for. That's because most of us here are so used to the amount of money we earn. But for people who literally struggling with month-to-month payments, 100K feels like a life-changing amount of money. If they were just saving month by month, they might have never reached that amount in their entire life. Our perspectives here on HN are very one-sided when it comes to things like this, anyone who been poor previously (or is currently) could attest to this.
- davidwritesbugs 3mo ago
  Indeed, a lot of HN readers don't realise their good luck in life. It takes a dose of poverty to bring perspective.
- swiftcoder 3mo ago
  I don't know, the very same comment mentions that the person was earning 6 figures. Less-than-a-year's-salary is definitely a weird thing to throw a comfortable 6 figure income out the window for - it's not like 95k is "never work a day in your life" money.
  - embedding-shape 3mo ago
    > I don't know, the very same comment mentions that the person was earning 6 figures. What does that mean for where and how the person live though? How much money were they realistically having left at the end of the month? 6 figures surely means a lot in some places, in others not so much and maybe they didn't have much left after all. Even with 1K left in a month on average, that's 95 months (~8 years) of saving for the same amount, maybe it was always the plan to just get the fuck out once they got close to 100K or whatever. Humans do rash things, especially when some shortcut appears. But all this is also speculation and hypothesizing, who knows the real reasons behind it for sure.

UltraSane 3mo ago

$95,000 isn't that much to destroy your life over.

bloppe 3mo ago
I'll do it for free
joe_mamba 3mo ago
There's homeless people living on the streets or people in jail who destroyed their lives for way less than 95k. Often for nothing, like throwing a punch over a parking spot argument. You'd be surprised how far down poor impulsive choices can drag you down even when there's no money on the line.
swat535 3mo ago
I think we should consider our privilege if we are in a position to think that 95,000 isn't that much money..
- csomar 3mo ago
  What privilege? Anyone's life (someone who lives in the Valley) is worth more than 95k. Anyone who is a software engineer at Apple, is definitively worth more than 95k. The kid is dumb. Not sure how Apple interview processes are these days.

throw-the-towel 3mo ago

Hell, I used to know a guy who did this to steal a monitor from work. Went all the way down to Panama or something.

test6554 3mo ago

This reminds me of the kids in MR. Deeds. Kid 1: What are you going to do with your $20,000 Kid2: quit school Homeless man: good idea, school is for fools!!

rmnclmnt 3mo ago

> People do weird things when given sudden access to money or power. 10 years ago my last boss told me one last advice before going onto entrepreneur ventures: « be careful, people do become crazy and stupid with money » (and I guess he knew what he was talking about…)

nathan_compton 3mo ago

100k really isn't that much money in the grand scheme of things, especially because they will probably get caught anyway.

gcanyon 3mo ago

There's a line from the movie The Way of the Gun that I love about this. The number is higher, but it still applies. Some criminals are loading a $15 million ransom into the back of a truck, and a younger criminal says, "Boy, $15 million is a lot of money, huh?" and James Caan, playing an older, wiser criminal says, "Money? $15 million is not 'money'. It's a motive, with a universal adapter on it."

tekawade 3mo ago

[dead]

ChrisMarshallNY 3mo ago

They upended their life for $100K? I wouldn’t do that for a million (these days).

FireBeyond 3mo ago
Was talking to a lawyer, and tells me how often he has clients say (after a crime, and while trying to resolve things), "We've got this far [in trying to fix it], don't worry, I'm not stupid enough to screw it up". His response, generally, "My career is built on people who did dumber things, and for less, so..."

catlifeonmars 3mo ago

Maybe there were other factors? Maybe they were leaning towards leaving anyway and this influx of cash enabled them to do so? It’s a stupid idea, for sure, but I think the explanation that “people do weird things when faced with a lot of money” is not really all that explanatory.

mnahkies 3mo ago

Finance somehow accidentally paid me approximately a whole years salary at once when they did the first payroll run after we were acquired. My first thought was I hope they didn't make this mistake for everyone, and second thought how do I safely return this. (Turns out it was a one off mistake, and returning the excess was pretty straightforward though probably the largest bank transfer I've ever made)