• BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today
    25·
    4 days ago

    Years ago, in the pre-cell phone 80s, at a trade show in Las Vegas, someone left their wallet in our booth. It had money in it, but I didn’t touch it.

    I took it back to my room, and pulled out the Drivers License, from Nebraska. I called the phone operator and asked to be connected to the area code for that city. That operator gave me the only phone number in that city with that last name, but a woman’s first name. I called that number, and it turned out to be the wallet owner’s mother.

    I told her I had her son’s wallet, so she should call his hotel room, and tell him he could pick it up at our booth, and gave her my hotel room phone number. He called, obviously hugely relieved that his wallet was safe, and told me to take $50 out of it and go out, but I didn’t.

    The next day, he came in to retrieve his wallet, and asked if I spent the $50 having fun, and I told him I didn’t want a reward. He opened the wallet, threw $50 on the counter, and ran out of the booth.

    I gambled it on slots, and won a couple hundred, which I proceeded to gamble away to nothing.

    • Agent641@lemmy.world
      13·
      4 days ago

      Once I was walking down by the river and found a wallet and phone. It had $550 in it. Checked the drivers licence, name was Roberto. The phone was unlocked. I called the number listed under “Mum” and tried to explain that I found Roberto’s wallet and phone, but the woman couldn’t seem to understand, just kept saying “Call Roberto, call Roberto!” And I’m like “Bruh I have his phone”.

      So next I checked the drivers licence for the address. I googled the street name but it didn’t exist. It was something like “Monroe place” and google kept trying to autocorrect it to “Monrovia ave” so I took a chance and drove to that street.

      Knock on the door and a very angry man comes to the door, and I smell weed. Ah geez, here we go…

      I ask if he is Roberto, he says yes. I ask if his address on his licence is incorrect, to verify if this is the guy, he says yes. So I tell him I found his wallet and phone. He didn’t even realise they were missing. His mood changes instantly, takes the wallet and phone, looks inside, sees his money is still there. Is basically in tears. Asks if I was one of the kayakers he had been arguing with at the river (apparently he had been trying to fish with his disabled son and the kayakers were trying to land their boats, fucking up their fishing spot, which is why he left in a huff) I said no, just a walker.

      Tried to explain that I tried to call his mum. She actually lives in the same house, but has Alzheimer’s and doesn’t understand things, so that’s why I couldn’t get her to understand what I was telling her. He’s the primary carer for her and his son, subsists on welfare and disability carer allowance, the money in the wallet was to pay rent. He tries to give me some weed, I decline, then he tries to give me some moonshine (blackberry flavour) in a plastic sandwich bag (he run out of jars) and I accept that (this was before I got sober and gained the common sense not to drink strangers mystery homebrew out of a plastic bag) and eventually escaped his constant gratitude and banter and went home.

      NGL I looked through the wallet and phone to determine if this person seemed to be rich or poor. A busted screen older model iPhone and rather sad, scummy wallet suggested he was poor. If I’d found a business card for a law firm or something, I’d have pocketed the cash and tossed the rest in a post box. I was homeless living in a van at the time so I’d consider it fair.

      • BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today
        4·
        4 days ago

        then he tries to give me some moonshine (blackberry flavour) in a plastic sandwich bag (he run out of jars) and I accept that (this was before I got sober and gained the common sense not to drink strangers mystery homebrew out of a plastic bag)

        Best part! How was it?

        • Agent641@lemmy.world
          2·
          3 days ago

          Pretty good. Very strong. I used to distil my own rotgut, and his was smoother than mine. Probably about 40abv, but he didn’t use an alcomometer so he wasn’t really sure. I drank all of it and didn’t go blind

    • veni_vedi_veni@lemmy.world
      5·
      4 days ago

      Good on you.

      Virtue should be so ubiquitous that it becomes unremarkable. That’s the real hallmark of a proper society.

  • ZombieCyborgFromOuterSpace@piefed.caEnglish
    332·
    4 days ago

    I once found like 200$ in 20$ bills on the ground in a park near my home.

    I live in Hochelaga, Montréal. It is the neighborhood with the most homeless encampments in all of Québec.

    There just so happened to be a bus across the street that serves hot food and gives clothes to the homeless from the “Dans la rue” non profit organization.

    I walked up to the bus and asked if they took donations. They said yes. So I gave them the money.

    If I ever win the big prize at the lottery, I’m going to help anyone I can in my neighborhood and my city to find shelter, food and clothes and allow them to be independent so they can get their life back on track.

    And I also want to open a grocery co-op in my neighborhood and expand across the province to compete with the price gouging grocery chains in Canada that are responsible for food insecurity and inflation.

  • buddascrayon@lemmy.world
    152·
    4 days ago

    You always return the wallet. This is not a Christian thing, this is just a human thing. But here’s the pros and cons.

    Number one scenario: it belongs to an insanely rich person. If you keep this wallet they will barely miss that money because they have plenty, however the police will work very hard to find you and then they will beat the ever living shit out of you and you will be sent to jail for stealing from an oligarch.

    Scenario two: it belongs to somebody for whom this is their entire life savings and without it they will become destitute. You will face no repercussions for keeping the wallet and the money because they have no power. But you will have completely destroyed someone else’s life which makes you a vile disgusting POS.

    Scenario three: it belongs to a drug dealer. And eventually that drug dealer will find you and murder your entire family because you stole from some cartel somewhere. Because the war on drugs has made drug cartels insanely powerful and contemptuous of the rule of law.

  • Xeno@lemmy.zip
    25·
    4 days ago

    Check for an ID. If there is one, bring it to the address listed. Mail it if it’s not local. If there isn’t one, bring it to the local police station.

    And for the record, I’m an atheist.

    • AlphaOmega@lemmy.worldEnglish
      81·
      4 days ago

      Fun fact. If you find money or valuables and no way to find the owner. Take it to the police department, and after 3 months or so it becomes your property if no one claims it. At least in the US.

      • duckythescientist@sh.itjust.works
        16·
        4 days ago

        I tried that with a ring. They never filled the paperwork to release it back to me and instead sold it at auction and kept the proceeds.

        I was a young teenager, and my dad was trying to use this as a lesson about doing the right thing. We both learned a lesson, but it wasn’t the one he expected.

    • tmyakal@infosec.pub
      181·
      5 days ago

      Absolutely this. NYPD used to set up “stings” where they’d place a wallet like this down and then arrest the first person to pick it up. Doesn’t matter if you were going to take it to the police station to turn it in or not, they just arrest you on the spot.

        • tmyakal@infosec.pub
          232·
          5 days ago

          Theft. Pickpocketing. You’ve got a wallet that isn’t yours, so you must have stolen it. Nevermind that the officer arresting you put it there and watched you pick it up, because it’s your word against theirs.

          It was a quick and easy way for cops to hit their quota, even if the DA didn’t end up prosecuting. Although usually they’d at least try to threaten you into a plea just to help their conviction rate.

          Edit: I’ve been the victim of autocorrect.

          Edit to the edit: Every time I read this back, I find another typo. Anyone have good Android keyboard recommendations?

          • LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
            131·
            5 days ago

            Great way for an officer to get fired and the city to be sued. Without proof that they didn’t attempt to return it to the owner there is no theft.

            Also most states have a time period for returning such property, and it isn’t minutes it’s days

            • tmyakal@infosec.pub
              182·
              5 days ago

              …what? Where do you live that cops get fired? Certainly not the US.

              And, yes, people have sued the NYPD. Often and repeatedly. That has only changed how they define their practices, not what those practices are. For example, NYPD officially stopped having quotas for stop-and-frisks after the lawsuit ~15 years ago, but everyone inside the department knows that if you have the fewest stops, you’ll get worse assignments and are more likely to be passed over for promotion.

              • LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
                21·
                4 days ago

                I grew up in central Florida and it used to happen quite frequently. Officers do shady shit, city/county w.e gets sued, grand juries force restructures and people being fired. The NYPD may be covering each other’s asses better or something

          • youmaynotknow@lemmy.zip
            4·
            4 days ago

            I’ve been using the FUTO keyboard for a couple of months after Florisboard was driving me nuts with the typos (I refuse to accept that I have fat thumbs and dislexia). So far it’s a huge improvement. It does take a while to ‘learn’ to change to the correct words when I hit space, and I’m always choosing the right word (when I remember to, lol) to improve the suggestions over time. Also, I had to get some good dictionaries for it. I liked Swiftkey a lot, but I not willing to bend over to the surveillance, so in my opinion, this is the best FOSS non-commercial option I could find.

            • rumba@piefed.zipEnglish
              4·
              4 days ago

              Might be a bit pedantic, but it is good to note they’re not actually FOSS, they’re non-commercial source available.

              The intent is somewhat reasonable, you can’t use their source to make a commercial product.

              That said, i’m pretty glad the FOSS community doesn’t work that way.

              Also of point, i trust them far more than any of the other non-FOSS options.

            • tmyakal@infosec.pub
              3·
              5 days ago

              Thanks. I should just stop using lemmy on my phone. Autocorrect continues to make me look stupid.

          • jtrek@startrek.website
            1·
            5 days ago

            It was a quick and easy way for cops to hit their quota, even if the DA didn’t end up prosecuting

            I feel like if that sort of thing happens, you should be paid extravagantly. None of this “okay you can go” business after you’ve been fucked around.

          • [deleted]@piefed.worldEnglish
            9·
            5 days ago

            From the article they consider it to be theft if not turned in with all contents. So not arrested for picking it up, but also entrapment bullshit in my opinion since police love to keep unclaimed cash for themselves. Criminalizing that for regular people removes competition.

            • tmyakal@infosec.pub
              9·
              5 days ago

              The article is from a site called “Police Mag” and quotes NYPD representatives. I would take what they say about how successful, fair, and justly enforced these stings were with a grain of salt.

              It literally says they stop-and-frisk if the “perpetrator” didn’t immediately return the wallet to the officer. On a crowded street or subway, it’s very possible to see a wallet on the ground and not see who dropped it, and now you’re getting pulled into one of the most bullshit warrantless search practices of modern policing?

            • gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
              3·
              5 days ago

              Well that’s easy to solve. Turn on phone camera as you walk up to it, look around and capture the surroundings, and then pick it up. There’s your evidence. The case would be thrown out.

              • tmyakal@infosec.pub
                9·
                5 days ago

                The case would be thrown out if it made it to a judge with that evidence. But the stings were often a pretense to initiate a stop-and-frisk where additional charges are going to get trumped up. Then they’ll lock you in a room where they just need to convince you that any one of those charges might stick, you’ll have a criminal record, and your life is over. Now you’re plea-bargaining down to a misdemeanor because the cops lied and intimidated you into avoiding a trial where your evidence would be presented.

                The obvious answer is “lawyer up immediately,” but many people can’t afford lawyers. So now you’re getting an overworked, underpaid public defender who wants to spend as little time on your case as possible. You know what they’ll tell you? “Take the deal.”

                The system as it is right now is designed to favor the state. Judges and prosecutors have been trying to reduce the number of jury trials for decades, often arguing that they’re cumbersome and time consuming. Fewer and fewer people get their day in court. Around 95% of US criminal convictions these days come from plea deals where no one had to present evidence. Instead of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt to a jury, the police and the DA just need to convince the accused that the state is too tough to fight.

            • cattywampas@lemmy.world
              21·
              5 days ago

              The situation described in the article would not be entrapment. Presenting the opportunity to commit a crime does not constitute entrapment, usually you have to be coerced or tricked in some way.

          • kungen@feddit.nu
            2·
            4 days ago

            ⁠New York Personal Property Law § 252; it doesn’t have any name, it’s just an unclassified misdemeanor.

            But we actually have a word for this type of offence in Sweden, “fyndförseelse” (discovery misdemeanor? Not very easy to translate). Basically, if you find something, you have to return it immediately (if you’re aware of who the owner is), and if unknown you need to leave it to the police as soon as possible. But the fun part is, if the rightful owner doesn’t make a claim within 3 months, you become the legal owner and can do what you want with it.

            My apartment is right by several bars, and my backyard is one of the more secluded places in the area, so I end up finding stuff all the time; clocks, jewelery, etc, from people who think it’s more appropriate to piss on my wall and grass instead of using the bar’s toilet. Most of them claim their stuff, and that makes me happy, and the rest I can choose to sell or donate it to the government.

            So if the NYPD isn’t lying in that article, I don’t see any “gotcha” with it… other than there’s probably more impactful stuff they could be doing.

            • Sentient Loom@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
              1·
              4 days ago

              Well it’s something like entrapment. They’re just creating fake crimes to catch people. It’s like making a robot who antagonizes a pedestrian until the pedestrian assaults the robot, and then charging the pedestrian with assault even though it was a non-feeling robot.

              • kungen@feddit.nu
                1·
                4 days ago

                Giving an opportunity isn’t entrapment. It would be if someone said “hey dude, that girl there dropped her phone, do you want it?”

                But yeah I get what you mean, and that’s what I meant with “there’s probably more impactful stuff they could be doing instead”… Because no one who does finders-keepers on someone else’s personal belongings (when they can easily see the owner) is a good person tbh.

                Normal people lose their stuff all the time; it’s a good thing if opportunistic thieves think again before considering hurting an actual person, instead of just being a quota-filler.

    • Manticore@lemmy.nz
      8·
      5 days ago

      Yeah no normal person is carrying that much cash. Its either a trap or a crime.

      The closest normal reason I can think of is a poorer person having to pay rent in cash to their underhanded landlord. Such a loss is devastating.

      But the police probably aren’t getting it all back to them though, esp since theyd have to go in and ask (AFTER dropping it off), including explaining their carry amount. NZ cops aren’t as insane as US cops but they’re overstretched and these jobs aren’t a priority for them.

      …so I’d rather look for contact info of some kind, but then we’re back to trap or crime.

  • tigermountain@lemmy.world
    9·
    4 days ago

    I don’t believe in any god at all and I would still pick it up and try to return it. We don’t need a supernatural being telling us what’s right and wrong. It’s innate inside all of us as social beings.