Crosswords1 min ago
can we get away with this?
Answers
No best answer has yet been selected by scotty. Once a best answer has been selected, it will be shown here.
For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.Although I am academically qualified in law, I have no vocational experience, but when I was making a claim for compensation once, my solicitor told me "...play the system because it will screw you if it gets half the chance..."
He was right in one respect, so I suppose it all depends if you can both live with it, and take the risk that you wouldn't get caught.
Personally (even knowing the Theft Act inside out) I would take the money and run.
Good luck on your choice.
Regards,
Steve
My son received his montly statement from Barclays and it clearly showed that his account had been credited with and extra �1500. He knew that he had not put it in, nor anyone else, so he went into the bank to quesiton it. Believe it or not, the cashier brought it up on screen and told him not to worry about, and probably a family member had put it in for him, but couldn't tell him where and when. He decided to just 'sit' on it for a while and not spend it - allowing it to just stay in his account. Sure enough, even though he had been into Barclays and reported it and they chose not to act on that information at that time, it was duly taken back out of his account some four weeks later. When he phoned to ask what had gone wrong, no one could give him a straightforward answer. Thank god he dared not spend it.
If anything this would confirm your criminal intent. If you had just noticed it then withdrawn the money without a fuss, when the police came knocking you could just explain it away saying you didn't know there was an error. But by actively getting a letter you would signal that you knew something was wrong and that you acted in a dishonest manner.
Personally I'd tell them. The idea these sort of financial institutions are faceless robots who wouldn't miss it goes both ways, so if they did come looking there wouldn't be any compassion on their part.
If I did feel tempted, I'd withdraw the money and place it in an easy access account with the highest interest. Then just pocket the interest until they came looking for it. Once it got to 10 years or so I reckon you would be safe.