I thought this was pretty funny.
A couple in New Zealand who ran a gas station applied to their bank for a $10,000 overdraft. The bank fucked up somehow, and accidentally deposited $10 million in their account. The couple have now fled the country with about $6 million (the bank apparently somehow got the other $4 million back).
$NZ 10 million is about $US 6 million at current rates.
Ha! Cool. It’s too bad they can’t go back to NZ, it’s a lovely country.
Am I the only one who parses “NZ” as “Nazi”? Nearly every time I see it. WTF?
So, where’s a good place to go in these circumstances? I would think any industrialized nation is out.
Also, how would one get into some other country and start living without a paper trail? I would think they would have to get some good fake IDs first. If so, I would have no clue where to begin to find someone who is known to make quality fake ID.
I would suppose they could claim refugee status with a fake name. I doubt proof is required there?
When I read the story, that’s what I first thought----Where will you be able to settle down with your ill gotten booty?
I suppose there are some out of the way places that you could lay low in, but as far as travelling around much, wouldnt that be the fastest way to get nabbed?
I bet they went to Switzerland to open a Swiss Bank account, they’re famous for their secrecy. I hear living on Lake Geneva is nice. With 6 million they can afford to pay hush money to hire a private jet and pilot and get fake IDs. They would have to be careful about who they’re dealing with though.
Switzerland isn’t as secret as it used to be. I bet India or Thailand; both up-and-coming countries where a Westerner can hide out by means of minor bribes, and near enough NZ that they can leave by boat, which would be sneakier than a plane. Lay low, get some good fake identification, and move out in five or six years after establishing a paper trail?
They were from the land of sheep, now they’re on the lam.
What banks in their area had millions in cash on hand to give to them?
If a few million accidentaly got deposited into my account I doubt I could just run over to the bank and withdraw it. Despite not having that amount of cash on hand I would think it would send up about a dozen red flags.
groan
One time a company I was working for fucked up and paid me my monthly salary times the number of hours I worked. It was a lot of money. Since I had direct deposit and paperless stubs, I honestly didn’t notice for almost a week so I’m pretty sure they weren’t going to notice, at least not until maybe the end of the year or some kind of audit or something. I honestly thought about making off with it for about 5 seconds and then decided to call the payroll department and tell them what happened.
Somehow I don’t believe that thinking things through is one of this couple’s strengths.
I find it strange that people these days think that running off with the money is the thing to do. And others applaud them for doing so.
Whatever happened to the concepts of honor and integrity? If I looked at my bank account and saw an extra $10 mill in there, my first thought would be to pick up the phone and call the bank, not boogie out of the country with it.
And you call yourself a Republican! 
Ten million buys a buttload of rationalization. If I thought for a second I could get away with it, I’d pack the cash and vamoose in a heartbeat.
How did they actually get the money and leave the country? Did they go to a teller window and ask for “their” millions? If not, I would think it would be simple for the bank to close the account, or trace the money if it were transferred.
This is so bizarre.
Of course, and so would I. On the other hand, this couple is living out a common fantasy, which is cool. Why inject reality into it?
The linked article says they might have gone to Korea or China. Would either be outside Interpol’s jurisdiction?
I’m betting any friends or relatives they have are being grilled.
I’ve been wondering about that myself.
It’s not like you can walk into a branch and take out millions of dollars in cash.
An electronic transfer of any kind could be traced. Cheques can be traced.
The only thing I can think of is it was apparently 16 days between the mistake being made and the Bank noticing. So the couple may have had the opportunity to organise something with overseas accounts maybe? But even so that transfer of money overseas could at least give the police a starting point of where to go.
Says who?