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Homeless Man Finds $40,000 And Returns It


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This is the second article I have read where a homeless person has returned money that they have found. In the last one, the guy got a reward and became a friend of the family who had lost the money. I bet the Chinese tourist was thrilled to get his money back! What a great advertisement for the US to tourists. :)

 

Homeless man finds $40,000 in travelers checks and cash, hands it over to police

 

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Boston Police Department

A homeless man handed police in Dorchester a bag containing $2,400 in cash, $39,500 in American Express Travelers Cheques, passports and various personal papers.

 

 

By Alexander Smith, NBC News contributor
 

A homeless man in Boston who found a backpack containing $2,400 in cash and $39,500 in travelers checks turned over the lost treasure to the police.

 

The man, whom police did not immediately identify, found the bag at the front of the TJ Maxx Store, in the Dorchester neighborhood, Boston Police Department said in a statement on Sunday.

 

The bag's owner had told staff at a nearby store he "lost his backpack containing a large sum of money" and his passport, police said. He was positively identified by his People's Republic of China passport.

 

The incident happened Saturday evening when the homeless man flagged down police patrolling the area and told them he found the bag.

"The good Samaritan could only provide officers with his name and the address of the shelter where he currently lives," the police statement said.

About an hour later, police were contacted by staff at Best Buy, in the same South Bay Mall as the TJ Maxx store, to say they had been contacted by the owner of the bag.

 

A spokeswoman from Boston Police Department told NBC News on Monday that they were looking into the possibility of holding a news conference for the two men to speak publicly.

 

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Chinese tourist with 40 grand? Who needs 40 grand to visit the USA?

 

 

You obviously don't stay in the best hotels and eat at the finest restaurants! :)

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You obviously don't stay in the best hotels and eat at the finest restaurants! :)

 

Well if I did I don't think I'd need 40 grand in traveler's checks. Whatever happened to credit cards.

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yeah seriously 40 grand is a bit suspiciously much for someone to be carrying, he must be a real high roller.  or maybe he had a tour group and was holding on to all of their money for them?

 

anyway, since the bulk of it was in traveler's checks it's not like the homeless guy really could've taken it for himself anyway, at least without some hastles of planning out some fraud to get them cashed and all that.  still, it's commendable he returned it all, including the cash he could've pocketed if he wanted to.

 

thinking of that kind of scenario always worried me, I know that I would be extremely tempted to pay off my student loans and some other debts and hold on to the rest if I found a sum of money large enough.  that would be a hugely difficult thing to do to turn it in, and it's impressive for someone so down on their luck already to have that moral fiber.  good for him, God will reward him (I hope the Chinese tourist rewards him too!)

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Well if I did I don't think I'd need 40 grand in traveler's checks. Whatever happened to credit cards.

 

You think something illegal is going on? :p

 

Actually, maybe someone from China who hasn't been to the US might worry about reciprocal banking agreements or even bank charges. When I overseas and withdraw money via an ATM, I have to pay a conversion charge and international charges at both ends - the OS bank and my own bank - I don't know why. It got to the point when I was in the US and withdrawing on my OZ account that the charges were so ridiculous that I decided it was cheaper to PayPal myself the money from an OZ PP account to a UZ PP account and then withdraw. I don't know what Chinese banks charge their customers but maybe Traveller's Cheques just worked out cheaper?

 

 

yeah seriously 40 grand is a bit suspiciously much for someone to be carrying, he must be a real high roller.  or maybe he had a tour group and was holding on to all of their money for them?

 

anyway, since the bulk of it was in traveler's checks it's not like the homeless guy really could've taken it for himself anyway, at least without some hastles of planning out some fraud to get them cashed and all that.  still, it's commendable he returned it all, including the cash he could've pocketed if he wanted to.

 

thinking of that kind of scenario always worried me, I know that I would be extremely tempted to pay off my student loans and some other debts and hold on to the rest if I found a sum of money large enough.  that would be a hugely difficult thing to do to turn it in, and it's impressive for someone so down on their luck already to have that moral fiber.  good for him, God will reward him (I hope the Chinese tourist rewards him too!)

 

 

I have often wondered what I would do if I found a lot of cash. Everything in me tells me giving it back is the right thing to do, but there is always that little demon saying that no one would know and after all I really 'need' it so maybe God put it there for me. But I know that's not how He works - I just wish it were sometimes! :)

 

So yes, kudos to this poor guy who did the right thing.

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$40,000 isn't that much if you're going to be staying in hotels and eating out (at decent places) for three months, which I think is the typical length of a tourist visa. Not to mention rental cars and gas to travel across the country.

 

God bless the homeless man!

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If the homeless man tried to keep it, he could always be robbed while sleeping the streets-not exactly known for being the safest place to crash for the night.

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Tab'le De'Bah-Rye

Some homeless people are professionals, they actual wan't to be homeless. These types of homeless people are in australia too.

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well the travelers checks wouldn't have been much use to the homeless dude... the cash would have though.... they should let him keep some!

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I have had recurring dreams where I find lots of money - but for some reason in the dreams I never even think about turning it in. It is always like, oh wow, look what I found. I'm rich! LOL :)

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