Read the article:
Keeping any money wrongly credited to your account could lead to you being charged with ‘retaining wrongful credit’ under the Theft Act 1968.
You could be guilty of an offence if a wrongful credit is made to your account and:
You know the credit has been made incorrectly
You don’t take steps to cancel the credit
It’s an archaic proverb:
The game is not worth the candle - Idioms by The Free Dictionary.
The outcome, product, or returns of this activity or undertaking are not worth the time and resources that it requires. An allusion to gambling by candlelight, a significant expense at one point in time. If the winnings were not sufficient, then they didn’t warrant the needless use of a candle.
for example:
Ronnie Biggs, one of the train robbers, gained £150,000 in cash (£2.5 million in today’s money), and fled to Australia, but the net closed in and Biggs moved on, Rio via Panama and Venezuela.
By the time he reached Rio, his share of the robbery loot had all been spent, much of it on false passports, plastic surgery and lavish backhanders to tipsters who kept him one step ahead of the law.
It would have to be proven. If I had not in any way used the sum but simply kept it safe a half decent brief would be able to drive a coach and horses through any case that came to court and in any case it is most probable that the CPS knowing this would not even authorise a prosecution.
The Theft Act 1968 and COS won’t apply, will they, not sure what the law is in Chile?
It sound as if he’s among the countries lowest paid, so I sorta hope he gets away with it
In the 35 years I worked in a bank, we would always recommend people notified their bank if they notice a credit they weren’t expecting and doesn’t belong to them - I think it’s even more important to do that nowadays in case someone has got hold of your bank details and has started using your account for money laundering.
However, I don’t know of any bank who have prosecuted anyone for just leaving accidentally / incorrectly credited funds in their bank account, even if they have moved them to an interest bearing account.
Technically, they may be able to bring charges but their main priority is to recover the money with as little cost and effort to themselves as possible.
If you spend the funds and are unable to repay the money when the bank eventually discovers the error and wants it back, then they may involve the police to charge you.
I would have been honest straight away.
Yes, I know that’s not very exciting, but how could you enjoy the money, always fearing the inevitable consequences?
I don’t see the point in just banking it either, because if you couldn’t buy anything with it, what’s the point in it just sitting there, except it would earn some interest I suppose.
If/when they caught up with you and started proceedings to get their money back, would you legally be able to keep the interest earned, or not?
There is a statute of limitation on a number of crimes in the UK and in the case of fraud I think it’s around seven years.
What does that mean, Todger?
Do it mean after 7 years you can keep it?
If so, what if they found you in say, 12 months? If you paid the whole sum back, could you keep any interest accrued, or would they want that as well?
I don’t think you could legally keep the interest either, Mups, because you got it from the proceeds of the money you “kept” knowing it wasn’t yours to keep. 
Thanks Pixie.
Then I certainly don’t see the point in trying to bank it then.
After the period of statute of limitation had expired then yes. Same with any interest accrued. A similar situation exists with land as I found to my advantage some years ago.
Ah, thanks Todger.
I didn’t know anything about that. 
I remember a bit of a mix-up a few years ago when a government drone sent a large sum to the Newcastle-under-Lyme council instead of Newcastle Upon Tyne. By the time the error was noticed, the N u L council had spent the money. 
Wonder if they ever paid it back?
I would pay it back only because I’m a scaredy cat and I know I wouldn’t get away with it… good luck to the low paid worker who took it though… having said that I know its wrong so please don’t judge me
If anyone gets the opportunity and decides to risk it, my advice, if you’re caught, is to claim that you’re a friend of BJ … it might work … 
I would contact my bank and query it too, without hesitation, because I would not want to hang on to money that wasn’t mine - anyway, a fortune teller once told me that I would live comfortably but would never win or inherit any money - I would have to earn every penny! 
This thread reminded of a couple from New Zealand who cashed in and ran away after taking advantage of a bank error.
The chap applied for and was granted NZ$ 100,000 overdraft for his struggling business account.
When he realised the Bank had accidentally set his overdraft limit at NZ$10 million, he drew it out in cash over a period of days.
He and his girlfriend ran away to China with the Cash and gambled most of it away in Casinos!
I think the sum they stole was the equivalent of about £4 million.
The couple split up shortly after arriving in China and one of them got caught after a couple of years, with the other eventually returning to NZ and giving themselves up.
The chap whose account it was was jailed for about 5 years and his accomplice got some kind of home detention.
I can’t remember all the details because it was about 10 years ago but I remember thinking how stupid they were to think that they would ever get away with not having to repay the cash drawn against a bank overdraft - I guess they optimistically thought that gambling large sums at the Casinos May earn them enough to repay the overdraft and make a large profit - foolish folk - it’s a pity they didn’t have a fortune teller like mine to keep their feet on the ground!
24 August 2012
A New Zealand man who fled to China after millions of dollars were accidentally put in his bank account has been jailed for four years and seven months.
Hui “Leo” Gao left for China in 2009 after Westpac Bank mistakenly gave him a NZ$10m ($7.5m; £4.65m) overdraft. His former girlfriend, Kara Hurring, received nine months’ home detention.
The pair, dubbed the “accidental millionaires”, were sentenced at a court in Rotorua. They were caught last year after being on the run for more than two years.
Gao, 31, pleaded guilty to seven charges of theft totalling NZ$6.7m in June. He was arrested and extradited from Hong Kong in December. He said in court that he would not be able to pay back the money, New Zealand media reported.
Hurring, 33, was found guilty of money laundering, attempted fraud and theft in May. She was arrested after returning to New Zealand in February 2011 and convicted in a Rotorua court after a four-day trial. She pleaded not guilty, saying Gao had told her he won the lottery. She was also ordered to pay reparations of about NZ$11,800 to the bank.
Westpac did not comment on the sentencing. Reports said the bank has recovered NZ$2.9m but is still seeking NZ$3.79m.
In 2009, Gao had asked the bank for a NZ$100,000 overdraft to help support his struggling garage. The bank found out about the error days after transferring the millions into Gao’s business account. But by then, police said, the couple had transferred more than half of the money into other accounts and then fled to Hong Kong.
They allegedly went on a gambling spree in Macau and southern China last year. The couple are reported to have separated soon after they arrived in China. Hurring returned to New Zealand after having a baby. They have been on bail at different addresses before the sentencing, reports said, and their young son is believed to be with family in China. Hurring has a daughter from another relationship.
I hadn’t heard about it but now there’s a movie, too:
Oooh! Wouldn’t mind watching that!
Whoever said that crime doesn’t pay should get a better lawyer!
