# You find $100,000 in cash. What do you do about it? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 3, 2010, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-find-100-000-in-cash-what-do-you-do-about-it/541799 "2010-06-03T17:25:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2010, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-find-100-000-in-cash-what-do-you-do-about-it/541799/41 "2010-06-03T19:39:03Z")
I would give it to my butler as a Christmas bonus. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2010, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-find-100-000-in-cash-what-do-you-do-about-it/541799/42 "2010-06-03T19:42:33Z")
> [@Oredigger77](#): > > I’d use my personal money to buy myself a round trip ticket to London for a weeks vacation. Once I got there I would exchange 5 grand for pounds and hop on a train to France. Once I got there another amount 5-9 grand would get exchanged. I’d spend the next 3 day visiting as many countries as possible to get all of the money converted. Then I’d head down to the Riviera and spend two days at a casino where I’d back convert all of the money to Francs. After that I’d head back to London and convert the money back to Dollars. > > Between the losses in exchange rates, to money changers and paying for the vacation I figure I’ll be down 20K or so but I’ll have 80K of clean money. At that point it would go into my closet to pay for my living expenses with occasionally deposits of a grand or two for the things that can’t be purchased with cash. > > In about 3 years I should have it all in my bank account to then be spent freely. I’d probably end up using it to buy something that would appreciate but wouldn’t be too far out of my spending habits. More then likely I would sell my current house and buy something bigger while maintaining my payments. And when you’re popped at the airport for possession of $100,000 cash? What then? It’s illegal to move that kind of money without substantial legal hoops to jump through. ---
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2010, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-find-100-000-in-cash-what-do-you-do-about-it/541799/43 "2010-06-03T19:42:51Z")
> [@Happy\_Poster](#): > > The casinos will pick up and are legally obliged to report anything obvious like that. Are you that clueless to really believe this??? You don’t think that hundreds of people a day (small time crooks, drug dealers, whatever) go to various casinos in Vegas, cash in $5,000 or $10,000 for chips (getting rooms and meals comped in the process) play a few hundred dollars for an hour or two, then pick up and head somewhere else for a while and then come back later, cash in the chips they have left, thereby getting clean money, a free room and meal credit, all for a little of their time and the possible loss of a few hundred dollars??? You need to stop talking about subjects that you clearly don’t know anything about… ---
**Author:** ![InterestedObserver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@InterestedObserver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InterestedObserver)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2010, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-find-100-000-in-cash-what-do-you-do-about-it/541799/44 "2010-06-03T19:43:12Z")
Originally Posted by InterestedObserver I’d also have to check the news for any recent bank or other robberies (in case the bills were marked), be very careful about how I doled out my loot (since banks, car dealers, brokers, etc..are required to report cash payments/deposits over 10 grand), not alter my habits too much (which might be suspicious) and otherwise just keep it tucked safely away and used (for spending or investment) in small increments/as needed. > [@Wheelz](#): > > …I don’t know if all that is worth the $100,000. … It’s all relative. $100,000 is a HELL of a lot to some of us, and the precautions I suggested relatively minor hassles in exchange for having a nest-egg of that size to fall back on as needed. Unless it is from a sting or a bank robbery (and yes, how would you know? One of the logistical sticking points, absolutely) the bills are perfectly safe to pass as long as it is done in smaller, spread out increments. I know _I_ would rest a lot easier knowing I had 100 grand under my mattress, lumps and all, as long as I was fairly certain no-one had witnessed me taking it or could connect me to it. And, as I said, as long as I was fairly certain I was not stealing someone’s legit life savings or money for their kid’s operation. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2010, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-find-100-000-in-cash-what-do-you-do-about-it/541799/45 "2010-06-03T19:48:21Z")
I’d keep it. Anyone who would leave that amount of money at that location . . . for a month . . . isn’t looking very hard for it. First, contact one of my cousins, who seems to have the Midas touch with anything financial (he inherited this trait from his father). He’d know exactly what I should do with it. But the immediate expenses would be the two knee surgeries and one eye surgery that I need . . . plus house and car repairs. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2010, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-find-100-000-in-cash-what-do-you-do-about-it/541799/46 "2010-06-03T19:50:16Z")
> [@](#): > > Launder the rest. Since it’s only $100,000, that’s OK. Much more and moderator would close the thread. Note to **Skald the Rhymer** : wouldn’t it have been more fun to put “Need answer fast” in the title? ---
**Author:** ![Mooch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mooch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mooch)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2010, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-find-100-000-in-cash-what-do-you-do-about-it/541799/47 "2010-06-03T19:55:37Z")
I’d keep it and it’d become my personal ATM. I’d still pay utilities and mortgage from my bank account, but ALL other expenses become cash only. I’d shred my debit card. It’s such relatively small potatoes I doubt anyone would ever notice that I always pay cash at the store or restaurants, bars, the movies, etc. $100,000 in my personal ATM would go a long way. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2010, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-find-100-000-in-cash-what-do-you-do-about-it/541799/48 "2010-06-03T19:57:00Z")
> [@InterestedObserver](#): > > It’s all relative. $100,000 is a HELL of a lot to some of us, and the precautions I suggested relatively minor hassles in exchange for having a nest-egg of that size to fall back on as needed. > > Unless it is from a sting or a bank robbery (and yes, how would you know? One of the logistical sticking points, absolutely) the bills are perfectly safe to pass as long as it is done in smaller, spread out increments. > > I know _I_ would rest a lot easier knowing I had 100 grand under my mattress, lumps and all, as long as I was fairly certain no-one had witnessed me taking it or could connect me to it. And, as I said, as long as I was fairly certain I was not stealing someone’s legit life savings or money for their kid’s operation. I get your point, and it’s a hell of a lot to me, too, believe me. I’m not trying to ride some moral high horse, just that you and I appear to be built differently. I don’t think I _would_ rest as easily as you; I’d be living with a Sword of Damocles, and I’m still not convinced it’d be worth it. ---
**Author:** ![InterestedObserver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@InterestedObserver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InterestedObserver)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2010, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-find-100-000-in-cash-what-do-you-do-about-it/541799/49 "2010-06-03T19:58:13Z")
sorry, missed the edit…wanted to add that one way to alleviate the worry over marked bills would be to spend just a few, small denominations, at a few different locations for usual things and along with legit money. Then WAIT. Like several months. See if anything comes of it. Then maybe spend a few more and wait some more. See if anything at all comes of it. In the meantime, good idea to hide the other money very well and off your property, just in case. My reasoning (which may be completely wrong in this case, never having actually engaged in any such thing before) is that if the bills are marked somehow, the ones passed would be detected, and since the denominations were so small and the transactions so typical, it would be really hard for anyone to pin the bulk of the loot on you. Very easy for you to just play dumb and get off with the story that it was just money YOU got passed during routine transactions. A 10 here, a 1 there. If accused and the loot was not in your physical possession or connectable to you, I imagine you’d get away with it. Of course THEN you’d have to find a way to launder the money instead of just spend it in small doses, since you’d be on the radar. But at least you’d know your options. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2010, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-find-100-000-in-cash-what-do-you-do-about-it/541799/50 "2010-06-03T19:59:19Z")
> [@Happy\_Poster](#): > > I’ve asked Czarcasm to open the other thread so can go into more detail about various things people have done before > > (edit: In the UK anti-money laundering regulations are AMAZINGLY strict. AMAZINGLY strict.) No, I am not going to reopen a thread about how to launder money. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Poster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Happy\_Poster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Poster)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2010, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-find-100-000-in-cash-what-do-you-do-about-it/541799/51 "2010-06-03T19:59:47Z")
> [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](#): > > Are you that clueless to really believe this??? > > You don’t think that hundreds of people a day (small time crooks, drug dealers, whatever) go to various casinos in Vegas, cash in $5,000 or $10,000 for chips (getting rooms and meals comped in the process) play a few hundred dollars for an hour or two, then pick up and head somewhere else for a while and then come back later, cash in the chips they have left, thereby getting clean money, a free room and meal credit, all for a little of their time and the possible loss of a few hundred dollars??? > > You need to stop talking about subjects that you clearly don’t know anything about… Do you have any idea how much you need to turn over to launder $100k with an acceptable level of variance? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2010, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-find-100-000-in-cash-what-do-you-do-about-it/541799/52 "2010-06-03T20:01:16Z")
> [@Happy\_Poster](#): > > Do you have any idea how much you need to turn over to launder $100k with an acceptable level of variance? [Moderator Note]I would also prefer that we not discuss how to launder money in _this_ thread, please.[/Moderator Note] ---
**Author:** ![InterestedObserver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@InterestedObserver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InterestedObserver)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2010, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-find-100-000-in-cash-what-do-you-do-about-it/541799/53 "2010-06-03T20:06:26Z")
> [@Wheelz](#): > > I get your point, and it’s a hell of a lot to me, too, believe me. > > I’m not trying to ride some moral high horse, just that you and I appear to be built differently. I don’t think I _would_ rest as easily as you; I’d be living with a Sword of Damocles, and I’m still not convinced it’d be worth it. Maybe not built so differently…maybe just that, as I mentioned earlier, I actually wrote a story about this scenario years back and so have had occasion to think through the details and ethics of it. Not in real life, but when trying to write believable fiction, one approaches it “as if”. In my story, the character(s) couldn’t bear the stress involved and ended up returning the money to where they found it. They found themselves living in fear of a drug lord or gang members finding them (even though that was highly unlikely given the circumstances…no witnesses, etc..), the government catching them, getting robbed of this stash of cash hidden in their home, and just dealing with the general conflicts/fights/relationship strains over how best to deal with the whole “windfall” (which was the title of the story). They found, rightly or wrongly (I sort of felt they were a couple of wusses;)) that the strain was so much that they’d rather go back to struggling to eat and pay the bills than deal with it. So I GET that, I do. And who knows? In real life, either of us might act very differently from how we say we would here. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2010, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-find-100-000-in-cash-what-do-you-do-about-it/541799/54 "2010-06-03T20:15:24Z")
> [@InterestedObserver](#): > > In real life, either of us might act very differently from how we say we would here. 🙂 No. Internet message boards _are_ real life! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2010, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-find-100-000-in-cash-what-do-you-do-about-it/541799/55 "2010-06-03T20:15:27Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > Since it’s only $100,000, that’s OK. Much more and moderator would close the thread. > > Note to **Skald the Rhymer** : wouldn’t it have been more fun to put “Need answer fast” in the title? Rhymers don’t believe in fun, as you would know if you could be arsed to read the SkaldFaq. I feel unloved. ---
**Author:** ![Valgard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7feea3/32.png) [@Valgard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valgard)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2010, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-find-100-000-in-cash-what-do-you-do-about-it/541799/56 "2010-06-03T20:18:19Z")
I’m honest. I’d turn it over to the police. If it goes unclaimed and it’s not connected to a crime, and becomes mine, woohoo. Everyone talking about how they’d hide the dough has obviously never watched “Shallow Grave” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![InterestedObserver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@InterestedObserver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InterestedObserver)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2010, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-find-100-000-in-cash-what-do-you-do-about-it/541799/57 "2010-06-03T20:20:51Z")
> [@Wheelz](#): > > No. Internet message boards _are_ real life! 😃 Absolutely! :dubious:😃 Saw a funny t-shirt the other day…“Video games ruined my life. Good thing I have 2 lives left!” 😛 I’m sort of surprised no-one has mentioned the novel “A Simple Plan”, by Scott Smith, yet. (FTR, I wrote MY story a few years before he published this ;)) It deals with the same sort of scenario and with the same sort of devastating consequences. The film is ok, the book is better, imo. ---
**Author:** ![Meatros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Meatros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatros)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2010, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-find-100-000-in-cash-what-do-you-do-about-it/541799/58 "2010-06-03T20:24:54Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Let’s say that, taking your paper and plastic to a community recycling bin one weekend, you notice an old, ragged, bulging satchel on the ground beside it. There’s a notice warning people not to do that, but since you didn’t leave it there you decide to let it be. A week passes, and you come back with more recyclables. The satchel is still there, and it’s in your way. Moving it aside, you notice that a, under a ton of filthy clothes and other crap, what looks like a twenty dollar bill. Looking inside you find many more such bills–everything from fins to C-notes. Nobody’s around, so you take it home and count. There’s nearly a hundred grand in the bag. > > What do you do, and why? I immediately share it with any and all posters on the Straight Dope with the username Meatros, of course… 😛 I suggest that anyone in such a situation do the same. ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2010, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-find-100-000-in-cash-what-do-you-do-about-it/541799/59 "2010-06-03T20:55:06Z")
I’d start a thread about it. ---
**Author:** ![clarkstar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/439d5e/32.png) [@clarkstar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clarkstar)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2010, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-find-100-000-in-cash-what-do-you-do-about-it/541799/60 "2010-06-03T20:55:43Z")
i’d keep it, and silence any witnesses [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-find-100-000-in-cash-what-do-you-do-about-it/541799.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-find-100-000-in-cash-what-do-you-do-about-it/541799.md?page=4)