Yahoo Finance Cash roll worth $7k found by Aussie worker in rubbish - but is it legal to keep?
Would you return a huge stack of cash if you found it?
A rubbish removalist has been praised for his honesty after returning a huge wad of cash he found in a long-time client’s old entertainment unit.
Jesse Stewart from Get It Gone Rubbish Removal was at a tip in Brisbane when he took the drawers out of the discarded piece of furniture and found a small white medicine bottle.
“I was’t even going to check it but it was heavy and I thought ‘what’s in there?’ Then I saw a big bundle of notes,” he told Yahoo Finance.
Stewart unrolled the thick stack of cash and counted $7,000. In a cost-of-living crisis, some might be tempted to take the money and run. But not this Aussie.
“It definitely caught me by surprise. I didn’t have it in me to take it though and my client was super stoked when I returned it. They didn’t even know they had it," he said.
Instead of ditching things, Stewart often tries to upcycle or recycle old material and has found some treasure in another’s trash, but said “this definitely took the cake”.
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"I find working appliances all the time, things I can resell. It is surprising but I don’t think I could ever beat that one - it’s crazy.”
For his honesty, he was rewarded with a $300 tip.
And it’s not just his client who has been impressed with his attitude.
“What a champion. Honesty goes a long way,” one said on his business page.
“Good people are rewarded for their good deeds. Go on you,” said another.
‘Finders keepers, losers weepers’: Is it legal to keep money you find?
It’s a good thing Stewart is as admirable as he is because it’s actually illegal to keep a lost item or sum of money that you find.
“It’s a form of stealing under the Criminal Code Act and is often referred to as ‘steal by find’,” Queensland Police said.
The finder has a legal obligation to take reasonable steps to reunite the lost item with an owner. If you don’t know who the money belongs to, you are advised to hand it in to police.
But it’s not all bad news for good Samaritans.
“If the owner of the money is not located within 60 days, the money will be returned to the finder for keeping,” police said.
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