What would you do if you found a wallet with $900 in it?

A couple days ago I found a wallet on the road as I was driving. Where it was, I'm pretty confident it would have gone down the drain or almost definitely lost if I didn't pick it up.
Inside was a bunch of $100/$50 bills totalling over $900. Unfortunately most of the cards were banged up because it was run over a couple of times.
Very rare these days to see that much cash.
I'm in the process of getting it back to its owner, who is approx 65 yrs old.
Genuinely interested, what would you do?

Poll Options expired

  • 1153
    Return it to its rightful owner
  • 53
    Keep the cash & go on an all night bender

Comments

        • wow I was told Good Behaviour bonds do not show up on a crim check for employment. It will just be in police databases. Guess i was wrong, I've had good behaviour for an offence I would consider worse then yours. its not affected my employment though.

          • +1

            @Topdog: This is specifically Victorian, and it's absolute bullshit. A good behaviour bond, in terms of affecting potential employability, is identical to a conviction as both are shown on a police check.

            Yes, one is considered less "bad" than the other, but next to a potential employee who's rap sheet is clean, who are you gonna pick?

            • @picklewizard: Yeah wow, ok so it's different in QLD. Cheers.

              Bit silly that it's called good behaviour in VIC then

  • +8

    Return it, then complain on OzBargain for not being given 20% as a reward?

  • +5

    Well the very first thing I'd do is ask the professionals at Australia's foremost bargains sharing community. It is disappointing that it took you a number of days to do this.

  • +1

    Hand it into the cops and let them hand it back to the rightful owner.

  • +3

    Agree to meet the owner in front of an expensive restaurant to return the wallet.

  • +1

    I did find a wallet @ 10-12 years ago, with a large sum of cash in it. I took it to a Police station and there were 2 Drivers Licenses in there, with different names (similar pic-1 looked fake), 3 medicare cards with different names, assorted club sign in entries etc. It belonged to a 40plus YO female.
    I think the officer was surprised not to find powder/'herbs' in there.

  • +9

    throw the $900 dollars out and keep the wallet

  • +4

    I took a wallet I found in the street to the cop shop a few years back. They wanted so much of ky personal info I'd be loathed to donit again. Probably just toss it through their front door next time and walk away.

    • +1

      I had a very similar experience. Cops questioned me like i was a thief.
      Never again.

    • They make you fill out a lost item report with all your deets.(profanity) that

  • +10

    I've recently picked up a wallet at the local dog park while walking my dog. The wallet had the bloke's business card in it so it was a simple matter of calling him to come collect, and he was extremely grateful for it. The next time he came to the dog park he brought a bunch of fancy Korean dog snacks for my dog, so it turned out very well for me.

    Moral of the story - doing a good deed for others can (sometimes) lead to others doing good deeds for you.

  • +8

    I went on a U13 rugby tour to NZ that included a trip to Eden Park to watch the Bledisloe.
    I had a brown velcro wallet with probably $10 in it (mostly coins) that I lost at that packed game - which was a fair bit of money as a kid and quite upsetting.
    Someone found the wallet at the game and sent it all the way back to Australia. I think it actually beat me home.
    No drivers license/credit cards or anything like that inside. Probably a piece of cardboard with name and address scribbled in kid's handwriting, a bunch of coins and a $5 note (all in NZ currency). I imagine the return shipping cost was worth more than the contents of the wallet.

    That good deed is often remembered and as a consequence, I try to make the effort to locate/contact an owner when I find property that looks unintentionally misplaced.

    A number of times a year I also receive misdirected electronic gift cards or payments to conventional looking gmail addresses I obtained when it was invite-only in 2004.
    The kind [email protected] or [email protected] etc. It is often far more difficult to get these reversed and sorted out. The worst ones are the happy birthday X or congratulations X from grandpa style ones.

  • If it had details on who to give it back too i would return it to the owner or give it to the police to return to the owner

    If there is no way of identifying who's wallet it was then it is fair game to pocket

  • +5

    I haven’t found a wallet, but I found a solid gold bracelet once. Handed it in to the police and a number of months later they called me and gave it back to me as nobody had claimed it. I took it to the jewellers and got ~$700 for it.

  • Only ever found one wallet that I remember. It was in a wash basin in the toilet of a doctors surgery. Still dry. which I wondered why. Full of money, don't remember how much and ID. Handed it into front desk and never really knew if the owner got it back or not.

  • +5

    Return to the owner.

    I have a similar story. I found a wallet walking to my car. It was dark and no one was in sight, nor cars parked nearby or anything. Opened it and it had some hundreds of dollars in cash, credit cards etc. License with home address.

    I thought - I will just drive to this guy's house and hand it over to him on the way home (which would have been out of my way).

    Anyway, I get to my car. Drive past where I found the wallet and there is a guy standing nearby who had obvious panicked body language. I do a u-turn he goes into an office building and closes the door before I can get there. I try to get into the building then end up yelling out this guys name. He comes to the door and I handed over the wallet.

    He was pleased beyond belief. I got a lot more out of his pleasure and relief than the few hundred dollars in his wallet. Turns out he is opening a pub near my office so drinks are on him.

  • +2

    Lots of older people prefer to have cash on them rather than cards. Still, $900 is quite a bit I’d agree.

    As others have said, I’d try and get it back to the owner.

  • +1

    buy an 8ball

  • few years ago i found a wallet full of money wasnt much maybe $500 i found the owner and returned it, as a reward they gave me the money because the wallet had the only photo of a relative and wasnt replaceable, they were extremely thankful and didnt care about the money.

  • +4

    This reminds me of a story my boss shared, he found a wallet with lots of cards and small amounts of money on the side of the road where he was parked, he decides to take it to the police station. After a couple of days, police ask him to come in for questioning. Apparently, the owner of the wallet claimed they had a lot more cash in the wallet than what was in it and was claiming my boss must have taken it before he returned the wallet. He was upset that he did the right thing and in turn, was judged and treated like a criminal.

    it's still good to do the right thing but it isn't always rewarding

  • Be a good human and return it! I almost never carry cash either, but I lost my wallet once when I was on a trip out west (not everyone has card payment facilities or ATMs out there). I had $500-600 cash for that reason and lost it while getting a coffee. Luckily the person working there found it and called me, such a relief! Gave him $100 when I picked it up, which is nothing compared to the headache of recovering all my cards

  • +5

    Once I found £20 blowing on the ground, looked around and saw another £20, and then another!

    I excitedly hunted for more, thinking this is my luckiest day ever … and then I found the damn wallet with the cash blowing out of it. :(

    • Was it your own wallet? :P

    • +1

      I had the same dream. When I woke up, they were all gone.

  • +9

    Return it. I found a wallet with $1400. Returned it and didn't even get a proper thank you. In fact when I gave it back to him he said, "is the money still in there? It is? Oh, I wouldn't be mad if you took some of it as long as most of it is there which by the looks of it, is. It's okay I won't count it." I was like can you please count it. He was like no it's okay mate. I felt like I had stolen his money. What a shitty feeling to have.

    • +1

      You have my gratitude and heartfelt slap on the back, for being such an upstanding person 👏

    • You also have my gratitude for being a decent human being. :)

  • +6

    stupid question, of course return it.
    What if it happened to you, would you want them to return your wallet with $900 in it?
    This is Australia, not America, lol.

    • wtf do u think of Americans lol

      • most are in poverty, to them that would be hitting the lottery. there is extreme poor (not 3rd world poor, but live pay-check to pay-check) and extreme rich, the middle class is gone.
        go visit and drop a $5 bill, it will be magic. first you see it, now you don't. lol

  • +1

    Do the right thing and return it.

  • +7

    Found a tradie's wallet. The guy had about 2k in it and I drove to his place and handed it back.

    Was then told it was money for burying the guy's son.

    Fuuuuu

    • Was it the son who stole the wallet?

      • Judging by how absolutely broken he looked, I doubt it.

  • Return to the owner and karma won't knock on your door :)

  • -8

    Depends on the age of the person. Anyone boomer age owes it the next generation to let a bit of wealth trickle down

    • +3

      I hope this was a joke.

  • A Credit Card fell out of my wallet once, was returned to a transport authority (45 minute LOCAL ferry to tourist destination) that day who contacted me (my name was on the travel manifest) and said i could come by and pick it up. Picked it up and it was in a sealed envelope, lucky pickup, thank you stranger.
    Fast forward 2 months, suspicious $1600+ transaction picked up by CC company for online purchase, card/transaction blocked.
    Someone 'did the right' thing here but not before taking note of the credit card details to try and sell/use later.
    Be warned.

    • Could've been the transport authority people..

      • +1

        Yep, who knows how many peoples hands this went through prior to it getting back to me.

    • +1

      Sealing the envelope was clever, made you feel more certain it didn't need replacing.

  • +1

    Throughout my lifetime I've returned like 4 lost iphones in total. I sure hope I get my phone back when I lose it.

  • +2

    If I found a wallet, I wouldn't know how much money was in it. I don't understand why the finder would count the money - can anyone explain?

    Does a "typical wallet finder" also look through everything else in the wallet? Do they decide whether to return it or not based on the contents, and/or the amount of money?

  • definitely return it back to the owner or turn it to a police station.

  • +2

    Return it but put in the post never go in person. I found a purse once with its content spilled out on the street no money in it, I picked everything up and return it to the owner because its nearby but was accused of being the one who robbed her. Only sort it out after her neighbor came to calm her down and realizing I am just trying to do a good deed.

  • Just do the right thing. Shouldn't need to ask

  • +1

    I lost wallet once and I had no idea how.

    A few days later, the police called my work since I had my business card in it and asked me to pick it up at their police station.

    Everything including my $120 cash was still in it, the police said to me how lucky I was considering this was in Sydney and its very rare a wallet would be returned with full cash in it. I'll still forever grateful

    • +2

      It's wasn't Surry Hills police station was it?
      I returned one once there it had about $120 but there wasn't any business cards, just credit cards.
      The person just got into a taxi and it just fell out and taxi drove off.

      I have found a few things before and have managed to return them to their owner.

      Phones, Opal cards, wallets.

    • If there was no money I would consider $120 a reasonable price to get my wallet back with licence and cards and such. Such a hassle getting everything replaced.

      Although, I suppose it will become less and less of a hassle as more and more stuff is stored on our phones.

  • If I lost a wallet with $900 in it, I would care more about losing all the cards and items inside, and the inconvenience of having to cancel everything/get new ones.

    Whoever returns it to me I'd probably just give them the 900 as a gesture of goodwill and a reward for doing the right thing

  • I would hand it in to police. They can take care of the problem.

    Here's how it can go wrong. This is a true story told by a friend: The friend found a wallet in a bar and sought out the owner. After a while the owner of the wallet was found, but the owner was not grateful. Instead, he accused my friend of stealing money because the owner claimed there was more cash in there before.

    A good deed caused nothing but trouble. Hand in the wallet to police.

    • Yeah that sucks, maybe hand it into to who is at the bar rather than directly, hopefully the bar person could be trusted.
      I think most people hand stuff to manager or someone if it is inside a shop/business, on the street to the police station.

  • I metal detect as a hobby and have found various rings on beaches. It's illegal to keep valuables just because you found it. The proper procedure is to hand it in to police. You'll get the item back, free and clear, if the original owner can't be found.

  • +7

    I found a wallet at work once and the owner was a known low level crime.
    I rang the local cop shop and said I had found a wallet belonging to X.
    They came and collected it and said we been wanting to pay this bloke a visit, we better do the right thing and return his wallet.
    I seen the same cops a few days later and they said they rang him to come and collect his wallet, on collecting it he was arrested.

  • two years ago, I found a wallet as soon as I got off the tram on Glenferrie rd, hawthorn. It was pretty full with notes and cards etc.
    I saw a road-angel helping kids crossing the road and handed it to her. I did not look into the wallet so no idea how much it had but none of my concern.

    Had i not seen the lady, i would have looked into the wallet to find some license or other information OR simply would have handed over to police in nearest station.

    • Is a road-angel a lollipop person? I've never heard the term

      • yeah. please excuse my south african terminology :)

        • +1

          Road Angel sounds a heck of a lot better than lollipop person.
          You should continue using it and help the rest of us adopt it.

  • If it has an ID or anyway of identifying the owner definitely get it back to them via a police station.
    If its a wallet with nothing but cash in it you can return it but chances are the police officers would just make it disappear or get one of their mates to claim it.
    I had a friend that was a police officer who said this would happen if there's no way of proving the owner, yes you could get it returned in 6 months if no one claims it though.

    If they find you knowingly didn't turn it in though it's considered larceny and the charges are real, the guys that worked in the recycling centre got done for this. Bit sh1t honestly given it was headed to the trash and they didn't really have any way of getting it back to the owner.

  • +1

    I work in a supermarket and found $100 on the floor with no wallet. I handed it in immediately but I don't know if it was claimed.

    I have left my phone on a bench before and had it handed in to Big W reception by a passer-by. It feels good to do the right thing and that's the type of world I want to live in, so there's really no need to think about it.

  • +2

    Return it. Why is this even a question?

  • +1

    Yeah, based on the poll results, I’m confident that someone who found an envelope with $1000 (or $1100) inside, in Sydney Airport arrival hall on 20/04/2007, is still waiting for the rightful owner to take her back…

    Hint: You can reach the rightful owner by calling the number on the envelope…

  • The ones who'd keep it would be struggling with a very insecure mindset.

  • My wife once saw a handbag left on a chair at the train station. She handed back got the station officer. Few years later she dropped her wallet and the person found it handed to the police station. The cop gave us the contact number of the person when we asked for it. Wanted to send him a thank you gift but he said he wouldn’t take it. He did say he appreciates us reaching out to say thanks.

  • +11

    I once saw money 💰 literally flying on the road
    Got out from car instinctively and started collecting
    I got about 400
    I was about to leave and enjoy the cash then just found the wallet
    I tracked the owner who happened to be CEO of one of the Australia's largest super fund
    I drove to CBD to give him personally
    I was treated very cold by the secretary and later I call from him saying the cash is short
    I was really gutted and told him if I wanted to keep them cash why would I return even this 400
    Would I do it again
    Of course I will
    You do good because it's the right thing to do

    • +2

      wow… what an ass - name and shame!

    • +3

      This goes back to my saying. Never expect to be thanked, but always expect to give thanks.

      Good on you mate 👍

    • Does he have the letters I L and K in his name? :P

  • +2

    Return it.

    $900 doesn't sound like a lot, maybe just half the cost of a phone or a laptop. But it could also be someone's weekly pay. A lot of families are 1 pay slip away from being homeless fyi.

    • This is the way to think.

      $900 is nothing to me but could be a huge deal to a struggling family.

      • +1

        Yeah for sure. A couple months ago i was really broke and had borrowed some cash from my sister. I don't usually carry a purse around but I did that day cos I had the cash in there. Went to the movies with my 3 kids (we got free tickets) and it wasn't until we walked 10 mins to the carpark and I went to get my parking ticket that I realised I didn't have my purse with me . I was so stressed as that money was supposed to last me the week until I got paid. And my parking ticket was in there too so I would've had to pay for the whole day if I couldn't produce it. I didn't have any money to pay anyway. So we rushed back to the cinema and to my relief, someone had found my purse and handed it in at the bar. I am eternally grateful to that person.

  • Have done. It had exactly $900 in it.

    I returned it. I'm not a thief.

  • +2

    Used to catch public transport alot when I was younger, loved finding people's stuff (wallets/phones) and making an effort to return them. Only annoying thing is when I bring their stuff to them (which might take a couple hours of my own time and they just take it and say thanks. Like I know I am not a service but hell, $10 wouldn't have hurt them and back then and I would have been super grateful.

    I remember finding a iPhone 7 back when they first came out, managed to answer the phone when their parents rang it and got them to give me their details to drop it off. Took me an hour to get to their place which included a 20 minute walk and all I got was "thanks, goodnight." So effectively spent 2 hours of my time and used my money on public transport to return a $1000 device and didn't even get a ride back to the train station.

    • Very nice of you but why didn't you get them to pick it up from you?

      I found a phone, called the first contact on the phone (dumbphone) and told them to come to my local train station.

      • Mostly cause I was bored and I gave me something to do, kinda like an adventure as it gave me a reason to go somewhere I otherwise wouldn't go.

        • you got a youtube channel?

          • @THICKnSLOW: No, but sound like a pretty cool idea. To bad I got cars now though so don't find stuff as often.

  • +3

    About 5 years ago, we found an envelope with $700 on the road. No ID. Took it to the police station, insisted on a formal report being made, including an event number. We were told that we could claim the $700 if no rightful owner had claimed it after 6 months. Six months later, we rang back & were told it hadn't been claimed. We were sent a cheque for $700.

    To ensure all this was above board, we ensured that we recorded names of each police person we had dealings with, details & timing of the conversations, & wrote letters to document important conversations where necessary (where there was a discrepancy between what one cop said & another one).

  • i have lost my wallet at least 4 times and have got it returned every time although never with any cash inside (biggest was $500), but id rather get the wallet back because replacing all my cards and stuff would be a nightmare.

    last year i walked out of the doctors and as i was walking i found a trail of $50 notes and it ended up being $1000 in total, as i was about to get in my car an old man (70-80) came walking up the street looking clearly distressed , i asked him if he had lost something and gave his money back, and i didnt even get a thank you ==.

    • I think the old man would've been overwhelmed with relief and forgot to thank you in the moment. I'm sure he was eternally grateful later on.

  • +4

    A few years back I found a wallet with cash and various cards in it indicating the person was visiting the city. I went to the post office, bought an express post pre paid envelope using the cash in the wallet, put the wallet in the envelope together with the receipt and remaining cash and posted it to the owner. My details were on the back of the envelope with my phone number and so within a day or two I got a phone call from the owner saying they got it and giving me a big thank you. Great feeling that!

  • +6

    I've found $200 cash strewn across a carpark.

    Picked it all up and handed it in. The person who lost it called the office frantically, hoping someone handed it in but didn't think there was a high chance.

    Two years later i met a lady in my local area and she told me the story about the time someone handed her lost $200 in!

    Best thing i ever did!

    • +2

      I guess you would have felt like a jerk if two years later a sad old lady told you about the time she lost $200 and no one handed it in.

      • +1

        I never thought about it like that!

        Though if I'd kept it i would have felt awful no matter what…

        I even tried giving the $15 extra a vending machine spat out back to the owner. He said to keep it but i donated it to a charity… Its not my money!

  • Would return if I knew who it belonged to or had a way to find. If not then free money, would probably buy a DJI mini 2 fly more combo.

  • You did thr right thing.

  • +2

    65 yo. he's a boomer so you should just rip him off.

    Joking, of course return it to the rightful owner.

  • keep the cash and return the wallet to some authority eg police

    just being honest, its the internet no need to lie

  • +1

    Lets throw a curveball OP. What if the wallet had a photo of the person snorting a white powder off a table ?^__^

    • +1

      It's not illegal to consume drugs though so why wouldn't OP still return it?

  • I would wait 6 months before spending the cash to help pay my mortgage.

  • I'm one of those individuals that lose their wallets way too often, and often it gets handed in and return with all the contents (I never hold more than maybe $20 cash anyway due to this) .

    I'd return without question.

  • -1

    Keep it. No one will know. /s

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