A man that found $24,000 in a safe he bought off eBay, has left people questioning his actions after he decided to keep the money…
The man in question bought a second-hand safe from eBay seller James Labrecque for $98, but got more than he bargained for when he opened it up.
After being unable to open it in a conventional way, the buyer decided to pry it open to see what was inside, and to his surprise, it was filled with money…
$24,000 to be exact.
After finding out what was inside, James, from California, told WMC-TV: “I made a mistake, you know, that’s what it boils down to, and it cost me dearly.
“I shook it and I didn’t feel anything inside of it, so I figured, well, maybe it’s just a locked safe, you know. So I put it on eBay.”
“I told my friend, I won the stupidest idiot in the world award the other day, you know – I gave away a safe with $24,000 in it.”
Describing the contents as a “life-altering” amount of cash, James was understandably distraught that he sold the safe without checking inside.
The buyer from Bartlett, Tennessee also refused to give the money back or even split it with James, he did however give James a positive eBay review, but not everyone is happy with the buyer’s ‘finders keepers’ approach.
One person commented that it would weigh too heavily on their conscience: “I think I’d have to give the guy back maybe 5k. I dunno maybe I’m too generous.”
Another added: “Poor guy. Ouch.”
A third Facebook user wrote: “I could not enjoy that money. A 50:50 split would ease my conscience.”
But surprisingly a lot of people sided with the buyer: “The buyer bought the safe legitimately so, therefore, anything inside the safe is his & he doesn’t even have a moral duty to return the money or any part of the money,” one person commented.
Another wrote: “The seller said ‘no refunds and no returns’ goes for the buyer too. Buyer legally owns the safe, so he also owns the contents,” this was in reference to the post where James told the buyer: “What you see is what you get, no returns, and no money back.”
Do you think the buyer was right to keep the money?