10-08-2007, 01:39 AM

so my friend goes online saturday morning to check his balance in his bank account and see's that a random $1,500 was deposited. the deposit slip showed his account number so its really weird. long story short he spent a lot of the money so far and bought like a 900$ tv and such...what do you guys think is the worst or most harsh punishment he could/perhaps will recieve?

10-08-2007, 01:51 AM

Well, banks have been in business for a very long time, so they are VERY good at record keeping. If the money doesn't belong to him, it belongs to someone else who is going to want it back.

Long story short, he'll have to pay it back and that 15% restocking fee on that TV and whatever else he bought is going to be a real kick in the pants! I don't think he'll necessarily get into any trouble, but he should have been honest from the get go. Tell your friend to grab a dictionary and look up the words "ethics" and "morals".

10-08-2007, 01:52 AM

Bottom line: He'll have to pay it back when the error is found. And he won't be given a lot of time to do so. Hope he can afford to give it back!

10-08-2007, 01:56 AM

I worked for a bank a few years ago... they'll find the error and his account will likely end up overdrawn!

10-08-2007, 11:57 PM

Originally Posted by mnh101

...what do you guys think is the worst or most harsh punishment he could/perhaps will recieve?

The worst?....A felony charge of Grand Larceny.

10-09-2007, 12:27 AM

I don't think he would be charged with Grand Larceny since he has to seek the possession and TAKE it from the individual. What happened is the equivalent of somebody bringing a vase into your house with out you knowing who and putting it down the floor and you picked it up put flowers in it and put it on your table... you didn't go out and steel that vase yourself but you found it in a place where you keep your stuff.

10-09-2007, 12:38 AM

Originally Posted by D3v1L80Y

The worst?....A felony charge of Grand Larceny.

LOL, I'm sorry, but thats just hilarious. He didn't steal it, it was put into his account by mistake! He should have told the bank right away to avoid any hassle.

10-09-2007, 01:20 AM

Originally Posted by MBasile

LOL, I'm sorry, but thats just hilarious. He didn't steal it, it was put into his account by mistake! He should have told the bank right away to avoid any hassle.

Hey he asked for the "worst" possibility. And it really isn't that hilarious, and in fact it could be rather serious. Statutes in some states enlarge the scope of larceny to include embezzlement and false pretenses. In North Dakota, for example, the crime of larceny includes: "stealing, purloining, embezzlement, obtaining money or property by false pretenses, extortion, blackmail, fraudulent conversion, receiving stolen property, misappropriation of funds, swindling, and the like".
If that were the case where he lives, it wouldn't matter if he took the money purposely or not. The fact remains that received money and subsequently spent said money when he knew it was not his (or at the very least questioned it). That action certainly wouldn't help his case, either.
If it were a bank error and the money wasn't spent, then that would be easy. But, since he spent a good portion of it, he could be in for some serious retribution. This could include not only paying the money back, but fines and possibly further punishment.

These scenarios may sound extreme, but they are not out of the realm of possibility.

10-09-2007, 01:45 AM

Like most people have said, once the bank and goes back and track it down, they will withdraw it from his account... so tell your friend to refund whatever he bought that does not belong to him and put those $ back into his bank before the bank withdraws it.

10-10-2007, 03:07 AM

Originally Posted by D3v1L80Y

Hey he asked for the "worst" possibility. And it really isn't that hilarious, and in fact it could be rather serious. Statutes in some states enlarge the scope of larceny to include embezzlement and false pretenses. In North Dakota, for example, the crime of larceny includes: "stealing, purloining, embezzlement, obtaining money or property by false pretenses, extortion, blackmail, fraudulent conversion, receiving stolen property, misappropriation of funds, swindling, and the like".
If that were the case where he lives, it wouldn't matter if he took the money purposely or not. The fact remains that received money and subsequently spent said money when he knew it was not his (or at the very least questioned it). That action certainly wouldn't help his case, either.
If it were a bank error and the money wasn't spent, then that would be easy. But, since he spent a good portion of it, he could be in for some serious retribution. This could include not only paying the money back, but fines and possibly further punishment.

These scenarios may sound extreme, but they are not out of the realm of possibility.

it almost sounded like that was the actual civil code until it included "swindling, and the like"

10-10-2007, 08:35 PM

Originally Posted by MBasile

it almost sounded like that was the actual civil code until it included "swindling, and the like"

It is. It was quoted directly from the N.D. Cent. Code § 12.1-23-01 [1995].

10-10-2007, 08:57 PM

He can deny knowing his account balance. Most people don't even check. They just use the debit card to buy stuff until it comes up declined.

He should've reported it to the bank, however, the bank will just pull the funds and get him overdrawn. He won't be charged with a criminal offense. The bank wouldn't want to lose a customer. I worked at a bank and had a few mistakes happen and we just pull the money out. If they can't pay it back, we setup a loan for them at 29.99% (unless they were a good customer, had good credit, and consistent income then it would be something like 4.9%) and if they have direct deposit, we would agree to take a certain % of that. However, if it happened to be a million dollars or whatever, and they spent it and couldn't repay it, they would be charged for stealing money. Even if it wasn't your fault that the bank made the mistake, its your civil duty/responsibility to repay the bank the mistake.

Just remember one thing living in the US. You never win with the government.

10-10-2007, 09:20 PM

I think D3v1L80Y is not far off on this. The bank will remove the money the same way that it went in, quickly and quietly. Any subsequent bounced checks will be your friend's problem. If someone gets cranky about a bad check there could be problems. There is really no good excuse for taking that money!

10-11-2007, 01:56 AM

Originally Posted by D3v1L80Y

It is. It was quoted directly from the N.D. Cent. Code § 12.1-23-01 [1995].

He's right. You can read the entire code, I've attached it to this post

10-11-2007, 10:21 AM

here is a little update. the money was put into the account exactly a week ago. or so it seemed from the online statements. its still there this morning. what if, since i had been reading online about his bank and giving random people and lots of immigrants credit cards and bank accounts, maybe it just will never get found.