A man in Scarborough could be the luckiest man on earth after receiving a whooping sum of £44,000 instead of £442.
His former company director committed the typographic error that filled up Steve’s account, and didn’t realize it.
Though he had choices to make–either to return the total amount and get a pat on the back, or spend the cash wisely–but the pinhead chose none of the two. He decided to squander it on women, cocaine and gambling.
Beg your pardon, he remembered to buy a ride, some gold chains and lots of vodka.
The lucky man [before now] is called Steven Burke. He’s a 43-year-old construction worker who had been let off the hook though reasons for him quitting the job wasn’t made clear. However, a report from Metro didn’t say Steve was into black magic, but he got lucky, any way.
His former company director committed the typographic error that filled up Steve’s account, and didn’t realize it.
The director was compiling payments from the company’s account when he–with a single click–gave Steve The Drunk a turn around in his life.
But the jobless man had no clue on what to do with the money because he was overwhelmed by the miracle. Either he was a drunk before the cash flew in, or he was driven into alcoholism by the sudden wealth. Don’t blame him. He wasn’t prepared for a rich man’s world, and he didn’t ask for the money.
One can advise what he should have done better after receiving the cash but if you ask him, he’ll be like ‘where was your advice when I was scavenging the streets and wasting away my life?’
Under the 1968 Theft Act, people who fail to pay back money sent in error can face up to 10 years in prison.
The prosecuting judge Katy Varlow, said in a court statement: ‘He spent the money on a car, an electronic cigarette, hotel rooms, designer clothes, a gold chain, cocaine and vodka as well as online gambling.
‘In total, he spent more than £28,000 and approximately £15,000 was recovered.’
Burke was caught after the company asked for the money back – and has pleaded guilty to receiving wrongful credit.
The court heard that Burke received an email from his employer telling him about the mistake – however, he could ‘not remember’ when he saw the email.
Varlow said Burke failed to do the ‘proper thing’ and report the mistake to the bank or to the firm who made the payment, adding that Mr Burke believed he had been the victim of cyber crime when he was interviewed – though he could not explain why he failed to notify anyone of the overpayment.
He will be sentenced on 25 July.
Under the 1968 Theft Act, people who fail to pay back money sent in error can face up to 10 years in prison, Mirror added.
Is there any law that says you can be sentenced for making wrong payment to someone’s account? Can’t this tempting error be deliberately used against a poor man to send him to jail?
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