Sum of money appeared in account

[Splinter]

Assumptions huh. Nothing in any of my posts speaks to temptation lol.

I have a mild fascination lately with law lately. Thus me asking specifically about it.

No assumptions. Hence why it was a question.

 

[Madhawk]

You finally replied to that Nigerian email.

Congrats on your inheritance!

 

[Aghori]

OT: Did you retain the client after telling them you will only pay the money back after three months?

Yep. Biggest retail group in ZA/International prescence so that amount was chump change to them.

It was in the contract as well - any erronous deposits made to suppliers account will be subject to a refund with charges after 3 calender months notice period.

 

[Aghori]

Sure. Any client who would allow you to do this is obviously a bit daft.

They didn't care for a few mil as long as it's guaranteed to be returned within a contractual obligation.

 

[Smokey mcpot]

Legally, spending the money is theft, that the court has made clear..

I am just wondering, if at any point, you could have a legal claim to that money.. Like a statute of limitations type of thing, not sure what else to call it, and where you have recorded proof of all attempts made to contact all relevant parties to trace the owner of the money..

Or are you supposed to just keep it safe for 30 years, hoping the owner of the money comes knocking..

That leads me to the next question:

You put this money in an interest bearing account.. SARS comes knocking some time later and and ask about the source of funds.. would this not also fall under unjustified enrichment..?

So back in my corporate days I was in finance for a very big corporate. Any funds which were in our account and unclaimed for 2 years then got written to revenue.

it was not a once off thing, happened a lot of times! Amounts up to hundreds of thousand rand payments. We wrote a couple of millions to revenue every year due to these unidentified payments.

Funny things is that we could not link these to unpaid accounts either unless a client confirmed it. Like I’d see an account with reference 12345 and payment would have reference 12346 where the payment amount and outstanding amount matched perfectly as well as expected date of payment. We’d leave it until month end and then we’d get incentives for contacting clients and linking these unidentified payments.

 

[AfricanTech]

You really need case law? What about morals and integrity?

Don't be a d00s

 

[Speedster]

You really need case law? What about morals and integrity?

Someone deposits R50k into your account "accidentally". You try to return it, but are unable to trace the rightful owner. 10 years later the money is still in your hands. What do you do?

 

[Excalibur]

Your unsisters are working overtime.

 

[PhireSide]

Here's another scenario:

You get an amount paid into your account in January, and leave it there and it goes unclaimed for months or years.

FFWD to December, someone hacks your account or does a fraudulent SIM swap and empties out your account, that amount included.

Does the 'theft' now have the hackers as the perpetrators or would you be an accomplice to the crime?

 

[Speedster]

Here's another scenario:

You get an amount paid into your account in January, and leave it there and it goes unclaimed for months or years.

FFWD to December, someone hacks your account or does a fraudulent SIM swap and empties out your account, that amount included.

Does the 'theft' now have the hackers as the perpetrators or would you be an accomplice to the crime?

Did this actually happen? Or is this one of those hypothetical, I have time to waste, questions?

 

[RedViking]

You really need case law? What about morals and integrity?

Atheists mos create their own morals. Who are you to judge.

 

[RedViking]

Here is another scenario. You transfer the money to my account and I keep it safe for you.

/SOLVED

 

[PhireSide]

Did this actually happen? Or is this one of those hypothetical, I have time to waste, questions?

Purely hypothetical but I'm sure somewhere in the world something like this has happened before.

 

[Splinter]

Atheists mos create their own morals. Who are you to judge.

Incorrect, as usual

 

[Splinter]

Someone deposits R50k into your account "accidentally". You try to return it, but are unable to trace the rightful owner. 10 years later the money is still in your hands. What do you do?

Well, prescription runs out after 3 years, so I would likely claim it then.

 

[Splinter]

Don't be a d00s

And what exactly is d00s'ish about what I said? You would be ok then if you transferred money to someone else in error, and they spent it?

 

[azbob]

Well, prescription runs out after 3 years, so I would likely claim it then.

You really need prescription? What about morals and integrity?

 

[Splinter]

You really need prescription? What about morals and integrity?

After 3 years of morals, there's not much you can do

 

[Polymathic]

What's the statute of limitations on this?

 

[Speedster]

Well, prescription runs out after 3 years, so I would likely claim it then.

So it's ok if you do, but OP isn't allowed to?