If a bank mistakenly deposited funds that you knew didn’t belong to you, would you take the money and run or would you bring it to the attention of bank officials?  Even if it was a small dollar figure, say $50.00, would you keep it?   What if you were guaranteed to not get caught; would you keep it then?

By now, word of a New Zealand couple who chose to run with the money has spread across the globe.  It’s not said how much of the $6 + million dollars they escaped with (although many say they were able to get around $4 million of it withdrawn), but apparently it was enough to take them deep into hiding.  The bank that made the error is pursuing ‘vigorous criminal and civil action’ in its efforts to get the money back.  It’s a crime in New Zealand to knowingly spend money that was deposited into one’s bank account in error.  This certainly puts a new spin on bank robbery.  

Although the bank made the initial error and has declared it as “human error”, the couple who are now globetrotting became criminals the moment they withdrew the money.  Leo Gao, who is from Korea and seems to have nothing but bad luck in all things financial, along with his girlfriend, Cara Young, had initially applied for a $6,000 line of credit for use as overdraft protection in their business checking account.   The bank clerk simply added too many zeroes to the ledger after the loan was approved.  The couple owned a gas station that was failing and were hoping the overdraft protection would prevent them from closing their doors.  With their unanticipated windfall, they decided keeping the doors open to their small business wasn’t so important after all.  I imagine he’s thinking to himself that he deserves this money since it’s always been his goal to get rich fast. 

Along with the couple, the girlfriend’s daughter and Gao’s mother have also gone amiss.  They are most likely somewhere in China. 

Whether it’s the legal system or karma that catches up with the thieves, one thing’s for sure: they can’t build their happiness on someone else’s misery, especially when it’s stolen happiness.

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