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If you asked an ATM for $50 and it gave you $100, do you think you're entitled to keep the extra $50?
by salvadors 14y ago
If you asked an ATM for $50 and it gave you $100, do you think you're entitled to keep the extra $50?
- hmottestad 14y agoIs there a camera? If there is, then definitely NO. If not, then: what extra $50?
- PeterisP 14y agoIgnoring the moral issue and treating it as a legal issue - why not? If they wanted to give me a $100 bill, it is fully within their rights to do so. If I really entered $50, then I certainly did not authorize my bank to debit my account for $100. They might have some legal grounds depending on the local legislation to request the $50 back due to their fault/mistake, but I can dispute that and the result is far from certain.
- mpyne 14y ago> Ignoring the moral issue and treating it as a legal issue It's unfortunate you ignore it. My original question was precisely a moral question. :)
- PeterisP 14y agoIf we're debating what the 'taker' should do, then the moral issue applies. But if we're debating if the 'taker' should be punished (as in the original post), then the legal question applies. It may be wrong to abuse the opportunity, depending on the circumstances, but it would be far more wrong to put the person in jail for doing something the vendor implicitly seemed to allow.
- salvadors 14y agoUnder UK law, if you receive money in error, you have to have a good faith belief that the money is actually yours. To claim that you thought that the bank was deliberately choosing to give you more money than you asked for (rather than it simply being an error) stretches credulity a little too much. See, for example, a family who were jailed for exactly this: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2003/jan/16/rebeccaallison2 http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2003/jan/16/rebeccaallison2 Citations welcome to this being different in other countries.