Stealing

[Augustine3]

I was having a conversation with my wife and we were discussing a hypothetical scenario: suppose you find a $100 dollar note on the ground and you don’t know who the owner is. Would it be a sin to pick it up and keep it?

 

[Delaine75]

Finders keepers! No, seriously… I really don’t know if it would be a sin or not to keep something you found (even though it didn’t belong to you, obviously). There have been many times when I’ve been in a store and found money on the ground and turned it in; I’ve had friends who have worked in retail and said that typically whoever the money is turned in to ends up pocketing it at the end of the day. So I really don’t know what the answer to your question would be, but I’m interested in hearing what others say!

 

[JABA]

I was having a conversation with my wife and we were discussing a hypothetical scenario: suppose you find a $100 dollar note on the ground and you don’t know who the owner is. Would it be a sin to pick it up and keep it?

No, as the money does not belong to anybody. Stealing is only stealing, when you take someones possessions from them.

 

[DexUK]

If you were walking through the middle of a desert and there was clearly nobody about and a $100 note floated across your path, then I can’t see it as anything other than good fortune.

If, however, the money was discovered in a place where someone could be consulted as to whether there had been a report of lost money recently - i.e. a customer service desk, etc then I’d probably hand it in and hope in the honesty of the store staff.

For larger sums of money, if the money is found in a public place, certainly in the UK, the practise is to hand it in to the local police station. If nobody claims it after a certain period of time has elapsed, then the finder gets it given to them. In that situation, conscience is satisfied as you have done all that could be reasonably be asked in order to return it to its rightful owner.

 

[yellowbird]

If, however, the money was discovered in a place where someone could be consulted as to whether there had been a report of lost money recently - i.e. a customer service desk, etc then I’d probably hand it in and hope in the honesty of the store staff.

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I would tell the customer service person that I found some $ in the store and leave my phone number in case anyone asked about it. Although I’d like the rightful person to have his $ returned, I’m not so hopeful the store staff is honest, and more importantly, if it’s unclaimed - I get to keep it under the finder’s keepers rule - not the store.

 

[DexUK]

I would tell the customer service person that I found some $ in the store and leave my phone number in case anyone asked about it. Although I’d like the rightful person to have his $ returned, I’m not so hopeful the store staff is honest, and more importantly, if it’s unclaimed - I get to keep it under the finder’s keepers rule - not the store.

I considered that possibility - the problem is, how do you judge what is the correct length of time to wait before pocketing the money as one’s own? And what happens then if after, say, 10 days and you’ve given up waiting, on the 11th day someone claims it and you’ve spent it: do you then say “Sorry, you were too late, go away”?

I prefer not to have to make that call!

 

[yellowbird]

I considered that possibility - the problem is, how do you judge what is the correct length of time to wait before pocketing the money as one’s own? And what happens then if after, say, 10 days and you’ve given up waiting, on the 11th day someone claims it and you’ve spent it: do you then say “Sorry, you were too late, go away”?

I prefer not to have to make that call!

I think 10 days is a reasonable amount of time to wait. I doubt anybody would be able to retrace their steps after 10 days…

but you could wait 30 days to be on the super safe side.

 

[thistle]

I was having a conversation with my wife and we were discussing a hypothetical scenario: suppose you find a $100 dollar note on the ground and you don’t know who the owner is. Would it be a sin to pick it up and keep it?

You should hand it in to the police. In the UK after a specified time period if it is not claimed by the rightful owner then you get it back.
Just because you don’t know who the owner is does not mean it has no owner!