Red, does this qualify as stealing?
 

ATM glitch gives homeless man $37,000 - WGME - Portland ME Top Stories - News, Sports, Weather, Traffic





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SOUTH PORTLAND (WGME) -- It's something we've all imagined at one time or another, going to an ATM and having the machine mistakenly spit out thousands of dollars. Never happens, right? Guess what? It did happen at a bank ATM in South Portland early Thursday morning.

This all started at one in the morning, when officers were called to a TD Bank branch on Maine Mall road. A transient was inside the bank sleeping beside the ATM. Officers went inside and moved him along. But, he came back.

At 5:30 in the morning, a woman waiting to use the ATM in this bank called police to report a man spending an unusual amount of time at the ATM. When South Portland police officers drove up, they saw this same homeless man inside filling a shopping bag with cash from the ATM. How much? It turns out it's more than $37,000 in cash.

When we told Marcia Giancola about it. She laughed and said "Oh my God, really." John Gorman said "How do you withdraw that much money from the ATM?" And Sarah Howard simply said "Wow. That's a lot of money" and laughed.

I asked South Portland Police Lieutenant Todd Bernard if he's ever heard of anything like this. He said "No, this is a first." Lt. Bernard says police have dealt with this homeless man before. Lt. Bernard says the man used his bank card to withdraw $140 from his account, but then kept going. And the ATM just kept giving him money.

Lt. Bernard says "He was using his bank card to request more money, yes." We responded "And it gave it to him." And he said "Yes." Police say the bank determined that a glitch enabled the man to withdraw over $37,000 in cash. Police say they gave the money back to the bank and say the bank didn't want to press charges.

Sarah Howard, from Buxton, says "I think that's really nice of them, and I think it's the right thing to do. Obviously he was kind of tricking the system a little bit. But it was partially their fault for not having the right security on it." And Marcia Giancola, from Brunswick, says "If the bank was giving it, he wasn't stealing it. He was just playing the slot machine, so to speak."

As for that ATM, it was out of service today. A TD Bank spokesman tells us "Due to a code error, this TD Bank ATM dispensed an incorrect amount of cash to a customer." He says no customer accounts were impacted by this $37,000 mistake.

Because no charges were filed, police won't release the homeless man's name. But they aren't ruling out the possibility of charges against him. So how much money do ATM's hold. Most hold anywhere from $10 to $20,000 dollars. But ones near a mall can hold up to $50,000, and ones inside a bank can hold up to $200,000.

I classify this the same way I clasify the lowlifes who took advantage of the food stamp error last year.

If you KNOW how much money you have, and you knowingly take advantage of an error...then yes, that is stealing. HOWEVER...if the machine start shitting out money and you happen to walk by as this happens....its up for grabs.

When I was little, i found that if I went ot an arcade...and scuffed my socks on a carpet, and touched the coin slot near the ticket hole...1/10....it would short it and make it empty all the tickets out until it was dry. Discovered it on accident...reported the issue, and never took advantage of it.

So you have a problem with this, but not the guy who knowingly spent money that wasn't his? You'd make a great politician. You speak in support of an act of theft one day and against it the next.

He just amends his "morals" to suit himself from one day to the next.

Sort of like how politicians treat the Constitution.

Isn't an ATM spitting out money also an error? And are you knowingly taking advantage of it?

What's the difference between an ATM machine and an arcade ticket machine? Both the tickets and the cash represent someone's property.

Bottom line, if you're taking something you know isn't yours, without knowledge that it's given up by its rightful (i.e. lawful) owner, you're stealing.

And you know it.

If (when) Red becomes a politician, note to self: don't bring in sacks of arcade tickets, only cash.

what kind of ATM can hold $37,000?

Those are the US Government Model 2014's.

When they run out of money, they just print more.

I'm hoping the one I'm about to go borrow for a few hours :leaving:

Narc.

So if you walk up to the ATM and there is a$20 in the tray no one is there are you steeling it if you take it?

Depends on whether you're asking Red, or someone with a Functional conscience, I suppose.

Would you leave it?

What if Red was standing behind you in line?

My wife and I were in a casino in Nevada once back when the slot machines still used real coins. We walked up to a machine and there was a plastic bucket of nickels sitting there. We are honest people, especially in a casino where there are security cameras everywhere:D, so we took the bucket to a security guard and told him where we found it and asked him where we could turn it in. He said "You found it? Lucky you!"

This is what the problem is. Even the person with authority on security and property was basically telling us finders keepers.

We turned it into the cashier and told her where we found it. In hindsight I wish we had asked to speak to a security supervisor and told him what the guard told us.

So if you walk up to a payphone...

And there are some coins in the slot.. :island14:

As rare as payphones have become, you should prolly take the whole damn thing. :Jeff '79:

I'll be honest....

That was the only Jack Pot I ever hit in Vegas... :yesnod:

If i'm homeless and have nothing to lose, i very well may keep the money. It's not like they have an address to track me down at or an employer to talk too.. I can't answer that honestly until i am in that situation though..

That said, if it were to happen to me today i would return it to the bank the next day. I have too much to lose and although i can use the money i don't need it.