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Mysteriously Hidden, Abandoned Or Discarded Money

EnolaGaia

EnolaGaia

I knew the job was dangerous when I took it ...
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We have multiple threads relating to discovering money, all of which tend to focus on cash that could simply have been lost or misplaced.

[All now combined here: http://forum.forteantimes.com/index.php?threads/money-from-out-of-the-blue.1470/ - Yith]

I'm starting this thread on the distinct theme of discovering cash that appears to have been deliberately discarded or abandoned.

DIRTY MONEY? WADS OF CUT-UP CASH FOUND IN GENEVA TOILETS

Talk about flush with cash.

A Geneva official has confirmed a newspaper report that said wads of cut-up 500-euro notes (about $600 each) mysteriously turned up jammed into the toilets of three neighborhood restaurants and a bank in separate episodes in recent months.

Prosecutor's office spokesman Henri Della Casa confirmed Friday's report in the Tribune de Geneve, saying the shredded notes were once worth tens of thousands of euros in total.

Preliminary clues from an investigation suggested the bounty once belonged to unnamed "Spanish women who had placed the loot in a Geneva vault several years ago," the report said.

At one pizzeria, police were informed after the clogged toilet had overflowed.

Della Casa said the origins of the cash were unknown.
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SOURCE: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-09-15-13-32-23
 
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What happened to that Japanese story of a couple of years ago where money was being left around the country in large amounts, anonymously? Did it just peter out?
 
Theres the old expression: do you think I can shit money?

Swiss prosecutors are investigating why tens of thousands of euros were flushed down toilets in Geneva.

The €500 (£440; $600) notes were cut up and found in the toilets of a branch of the bank UBS and in three nearby restaurants.

Thousands of francs have reportedly been spent on plumbing repairs to unclog the surrounding pipes.

The high-value euro notes are due to be withdrawn in 2018 over fears they facilitate illegal activities.

They will remain legal tender, but the European Central Bank will stop producing them following a European Commission inquiry into their use.

Destroying notes is not an offence in Switzerland, but local prosecutors confirmed they were looking into the circumstances around the unusual find.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-41306934?ocid=socialflow_twitter
 
ramonmercado said:
Theres the old expression: do you think I can shit money?

Swiss prosecutors are investigating why tens of thousands of euros were flushed down toilets in Geneva.

The €500 (£440; $600) notes were cut up and found in the toilets of a branch of the bank UBS and in three nearby restaurants.

Thousands of francs have reportedly been spent on plumbing repairs to unclog the surrounding pipes.

The high-value euro notes are due to be withdrawn in 2018 over fears they facilitate illegal activities.

They will remain legal tender, but the European Central Bank will stop producing them following a European Commission inquiry into their use.

Destroying notes is not an offence in Switzerland, but local prosecutors confirmed they were looking into the circumstances around the unusual find.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-41306934?ocid=socialflow_twitter
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Shit happens.
 
Very, very odd.
 
ramonmercado said:
The sort of thing you would expect to happen in Cromer.
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... no one would bat an eyelid if it did Ramon.. this place is like Eerie Indiana ..

NoseyUn.jpg
 
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In any case ... Here's a July 2007 Telegraph item (not previously posted in the above-cited thread) which illustrates how the phenomenon expanded from packages left in public toilets to envelopes appearing in folks' mailboxes and raining from above.

Mass anonymous cash gifts leave Japanese baffled
An enigmatic whodunit is gripping the whole of Japan as a series of anonymous cash gifts keep turning up out of the blue.

Residents of one Tokyo apartment building were left startled when a total of 1.81 million yen (£7,600) was delivered to their mailboxes over the weekend.

"The money was in identical plain envelopes, which were unsealed and carried no names or messages," a police spokesman said.

"Some people initially suspected they were fake bills but when they realised they were real they reported the matter to us."

Since June, dozens of public buildings across the country have also reported finding neatly packaged envelopes full of cash in men's toilets.

This money, reckoned by the media to be more than £16,000, comes with identical letters asking people to do good deeds.

In addition, the cash is literally dropping from the sky. On Wednesday, notes worth about £4,000 were inexplicably seen raining down in front of a convenience store.

However, many passers-by were left unsettled rather than pleased by this sudden windfall and were too honest to pocket the money.

"People thought it was too eerie to touch," said the police spokesman.

The largest single sum to date was nearly £42,000 found in her mailbox by an astonished 67-year-old Kyoto woman last Monday.

Police admit that they have no idea who is leaving the cash - whether one person is behind the bizarre handouts or if Japan is witnessing a craze of copycat philanthropy.

The gifts have lead to a raft of different theories. Some speculate that the benefactor may be a public servant trying to cheer up the nation. Others think it may all be the work of a New Age religion.
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SOURCE: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...nymous-cash-gifts-leave-Japanese-baffled.html
 
... And here's a 2011 news story about a single large anonymous cash drop intended to be applied toward earthquake / tsunami relief ...

Japan: Anonymous donor leaves 10 million yen in public bathroom

... AN ANONYMOUS DONOR has left a bag containing 10 million yen (€95,000) in cash in a public bathroom in Japan, accompanied by a note which says that the money is to go to some of the victims of the recent tsunami and earthquake.

The plastic bag filled with 10,000-yen notes was discovered in a bathroom of a city hall office in Sakado, Saitama Prefecture, with instructions that it be used to help the people of Tohoku.

Some 20,000 people died in Japan as a result of March’s triple-disaster, which saw a 9.0 magnitude earthquake, tsunami and nuclear emergency devastate the country.

AFP quotes a city official who said that the money would be kept for three months and then donated to the Red Cross if no-one came forth to claim it.

While officials said that they were thankful for “such kindness”, concerns have been raised about the person who left the money, as the note that accompanied the bag read: “I’m all alone. I have no future, so let the people in Tohoku use it”.

Sakado Mayor Hitoshi Iri said: “I’m moved by the valuable offer made by a citizen. I hope that the donation will help the reconstruction in Tohoku,” reports Russia Today.
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SOURCE: http://www.thejournal.ie/japan-anon...illion-yen-in-public-bathroom-240377-Sep2011/
 
I remember a friend of mine in Brighton claimed to have found a couple of hundred quid on the floor near a phone booth, and left it alone assuming it belonged to drug dealers or other criminals, and that he'd get into trouble if he touched it.
 
This CNN item on the Geneva euro-note-flushing weirdness:

http://money.cnn.com/2017/09/19/news/toilet-money-flush-switzerland/index.html

... adds some details about what's already been reported. The first discovery of flushed 500-euro bills dates back to May. The two Spanish women believed to be responsible have a lawyer, have admitted the money was theirs, but still haven't been identified publicly. The total amount cut up and flushed to date is approximately 100,000 euros.
 
James_H said:
I remember a friend of mine in Brighton claimed to have found a couple of hundred quid on the floor near a phone booth, and left it alone assuming it belonged to drug dealers or other criminals, and that he'd get into trouble if he touched it.
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There's a incident in The Sopranos where a car being chased by the police skids past a couple in the street and a bag of money and drugs is thrown out at their feet. They are very pleased indeed!
 
EnolaGaia said:
This CNN item on the Geneva euro-note-flushing weirdness:

http://money.cnn.com/2017/09/19/news/toilet-money-flush-switzerland/index.html

... adds some details about what's already been reported. The first discovery of flushed 500-euro bills dates back to May. The two Spanish women believed to be responsible have a lawyer, have admitted the money was theirs, but still haven't been identified publicly. The total amount cut up and flushed to date is approximately 100,000 euros.
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If they wanted rid, why didn't they just anonymously leave it to some charity or something ? church collection boxes, hand it to random homeless people etc ? .. who do they think they are ? .. the KLF ?
 
It's probably money they tried (and failed) to launder.
 
I thought about posting this story in the Lost & Found thread, but the stuff wasn't known to be "lost" in the first place ...
Grandpa forgot something: $43,170 found in footstool

The footstool didn’t feel right. That’s what happens when someone stashes $43,170 inside and apparently forgets about it.

Indeed, the money was discovered inside a footstool that was donated to a Michigan resale shop in Owosso Township.

Howard Kirby bought the piece and other furniture for $70 after Christmas. He was stunned Sunday when his daughter-in-law unzipped the cushion and shouted. After the shock wore off, he began the extraordinary step of returning the money to the former owners.

“I do what I can to be as much like Christ as I can, and this is the moral thing to do,” Kirby, 54, said. “This is going to help them. I’m so happy for them.”

The footstool was part of a living room set donated to a Habitat For Humanity store by Kim Fauth-Newberry and her husband. The furniture had belonged to her grandfather, Phillip Fauth, who died in July.

Fauth-Newberry said Fauth was a frugal man who always paid in cash, even $9,000 for a new roof. The newly discovered money was separated with paper clips and topped with handwritten notes. ...
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SOURCE: https://apnews.com/afb84b9b35d13f8620652a25018e7599
 
EnolaGaia said:
I thought about posting this story in the Lost & Found thread, but the stuff wasn't known to be "lost" in the first place ...

SOURCE: https://apnews.com/afb84b9b35d13f8620652a25018e7599
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Doesn't surprise me. When clearing out the house when my father died, I found 3 bin bags stuffed full of £ notes, clearly hoarded by my mother over years. Fortunately whilst the notes were outdated the bank allowed payment into her account. She had no idea why she did it. When asked about the amount of money she carried in her handbag, mum said she only had a few coins, but she emptied out £3k in notes which we paid into her account. Strange that if she didn't trust banks, she married my father who was a bank manager.
I would think that the days of the elderly hoarding cash in this way will diminish as fewer cash transactions are made and pensions and the like are paid straight into bank accounts.
 
My brother is a plasterer by trade, and when renovating old properties his first task on each job, would be to stick his hand up the fireplace in each room of the house, in the hope of finding a wad of cash - he never did as far as I know.

Also as kids, a group of us were walking across Hackney marshes one day, (a large expanse of land covered mainly by football pitches,) when one of our number bent down to do his shoelace up. The rest of carried on walking of course, until we heard him shouting for us to come back.

There on the grass was a treasure trove of silver coins, consisting of 10p, 20p and 50p pieces ( no pound coins though, so it probably predated their introduction)

If my brain serves me correctly, there was over £70 in total - the local sweet shop and space invader arcade owners were well pleased.:D

We always assumed that someone had robbed one of those electric boxes that people used to keep in their homes, but had gotten rid of the evidence as he was being chased by the law.
 
My husband's nephew's girlfriend was left her grandmother's house when the old lady died, as apparently the girl had been instrumental in looking after her. Before she died, Granny said that there was some money hidden in a bag somewhere. However, once they started clearing the house properly, apparently there were rolls of money everywhere - bags, coat pockets, furniture! Literally a dying breed of people who do this nowadays..
 
bugmum said:
My husband's nephew's girlfriend was left her grandmother's house when the old lady died, as apparently the girl had been instrumental in looking after her. Before she died, Granny said that there was some money hidden in a bag somewhere. However, once they started clearing the house properly, apparently there were rolls of money everywhere - bags, coat pockets, furniture! Literally a dying breed of people who do this nowadays..
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When my Dad died last year, we found a bunch of notes stashed away where my Mum didn't know about them. We reckon my Dad knew he was about to die and he'd put that money away for my Mum so she wouldn't struggle financially.
Tears me right up as I'm typing this.
 
A distant cousin inherited an apartment from her aged and long-demented mother, who had worked in the movies. I couldn't understand why she spent the week alone "cleaning up" and refused help. A closer relative than i explained that her mother had been paid primarily in cash before the IRS was very good about collecting, and had stashed voluminous earnings all over the apartment. Her daughter touched and sorted everything before she let anyone else in. Apparently it was quite a haul.
 
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