Bank glitch gives allows man 1.5 million dollars in withdrawals

[poriggity]

I heard about this earlier on another forum a frequent. I am confused as to why people don't take responsibility for their actions anymore. Must just be human nature. I find it mildly amusing that he blamed the bank for his stealing of their money.

[RevLogos]

I heard about this earlier on another forum a frequent. I am confused as to why people don't take responsibility for their actions anymore. Must just be human nature. I find it mildly amusing that he blamed the bank for his stealing of their money.

Adam blames Eve, Eve blames the serpent. Blaming others was the First Excuse. Still the most popular.

[Dravenhawk]

1.5 MILLION!?!? I just want to know where is my 10% cut?

Dravenhawk

[EarlyCall]

The taxpayers won't pay for it. The bank will have to write it off as a loss.

I know you are quite right about this, but it did just occur to me that this man, being as ignorant a person as he is, may just try and write off his gambling losses when he next files his tax return. If he gets that past the IRS, then indeed the taxpayers would be footing some of the bill.

[NHL Fever]

That sentence does seem to short on its merits, but since there is no chance of recovering the money, it's very costly to imprison someone, and the chance of him re-offending is zero, it probably makes the most sense to keep it short.

What's really interesting is how this illustrated the law. Bank fraud is white collar crime, and punished with minimal sentences. Executives or managers are normally the ones committing it, and so the system is set up to be nice to them. If you steal $50 with a knife from a cash register you sentence will likely be 10-20x longer than if you steal $10 million with electronic fraud. This would seem to grossly disproportionate.

[Sojourner55]

That sentence does seem to short on its merits, but since there is no chance of recovering the money, it's very costly to imprison someone, and the chance of him re-offending is zero, it probably makes the most sense to keep it short.

The chance of his repaying the money is zero as well. I don't know why they even bothered with that one. Appearances, I guess.

What's really interesting is how this illustrated the law. Bank fraud is white collar crime, and punished with minimal sentences. Executives or managers are normally the ones committing it, and so the system is set up to be nice to them. If you steal $50 with a knife from a cash register you sentence will likely be 10-20x longer than if you steal $10 million with electronic fraud. This would seem to grossly disproportionate.

Well, armed robbery and white collar crimes--right or wrong--are weighed differently in the scales of American jurisprudence. Regarding the case at hand, people who have served longer sentences than this guy for writing fewer bad checks than his number of trips to the ATM would probably perceive a similar disparity in the dispensing of justice. I guess all things are relative.

[Scooby_Snacks]

Obviously his addiction has caused him much grief. I would love to see him reach for God that He could break him free from what has been robbing him, the bank and his family...

I can imagine this awesome testimony.

I wanted to add this: Could it not be possible, that he thought he would win enough money to pay back what he stole, (or to him, borrowed) only to have to take more and more in hopes that would be the case? This probably was not guilt free. The panic over having to replace the money might have just built up and built up, and what drove him to take matters further into his own hands. This time, his addiction to gambling just would not pay off, no matter how much he put into it, his hands (maybe finally) came back completely empty of substance. Im beginning to really believe this might have been the only way he could get bumped out of denial. (Hit rock bottom)

[ChristianCoffee]

I wanted to add this: Could it not be possible, that he thought he would win enough money to pay back what he stole, (or to him, borrowed) only to have to take more and more in hopes that would be the case? This probably was not guilt free. The panic over having to replace the money might have just built up and built up, and what drove him to take matters further into his own hands. This time, his addiction to gambling just would not pay off, no matter how much he put into it, his hands (maybe finally) came back completely empty of substance. Im beginning to really believe this might have been the only way he could get bumped out of denial. (Hit rock bottom)

That is an astute observation: the same way an alocholic (like myself) needs to hit rock bottom (like I did) to allow God to help him change (as He has done.)

[Sojourner55]

That is an astute observation: the same way an alocholic (like myself) needs to hit rock bottom (like I did) to allow God to help him change (as He has done.)

I hear you, brother. I also learned that sometimes God will let you hit rock bottom and closed in on all sides, so that the only way to go is up--where He is waiting.

[NHL Fever]

Well, armed robbery and white collar crimes--right or wrong--are weighed differently in the scales of American jurisprudence. Regarding the case at hand, people who have served longer sentences than this guy for writing fewer bad checks than his number of trips to the ATM would probably perceive a similar disparity in the dispensing of justice. I guess all things are relative.

These disparities in sentencing seem incredibly unjust. How can a man to steals the saving of thousands of families by punished less than a man who takes $200 from a gas station cash register?

[Sojourner55]

These disparities in sentencing seem incredibly unjust. How can a man to steals the saving of thousands of families by punished less than a man who takes $200 from a gas station cash register?

Fallible human justice, my friend. But, divine justice will prevail one day. The Judge that all will stand before will not be blind like the lady with scales, but will see even the deepest secrets of the soul; His sword will be far sharper than hers, and His justice swifter and perfect. The guilty will not walk free, nor will the innocent be punished, as they do in our faulty system. And a lot of crooked people with money will stand before a Judge who cannot be bought.

[tango]

These disparities in sentencing seem incredibly unjust. How can a man to steals the saving of thousands of families by punished less than a man who takes $200 from a gas station cash register?

There's the question of the threat or use of violence to be considered as well as the amount stolen. A street mugging is a street mugging regardless of whether the victim lost $1 or $1000. Even if the money stolen is trivial to the victim the violence aspect is not.

That said white collar crime does seem to be punished overly leniently. The types of fraud that last the longest are inevitably the ones where the victim does not notice the money is missing, and in such cases it becomes much easier to argue that the victim hasn't really lost anything at all. Just as a street mugging doesn't become more or less acceptable based on the amount of cash the victim happened to be carrying at the time, so a fraud shouldn't become more or less acceptable because of how quickly the victims noticed something was wrong.

[NHL Fever]

There's the question of the threat or use of violence to be considered as well as the amount stolen. A street mugging is a street mugging regardless of whether the victim lost $1 or $1000. Even if the money stolen is trivial to the victim the violence aspect is not.

That said white collar crime does seem to be punished overly leniently. The types of fraud that last the longest are inevitably the ones where the victim does not notice the money is missing, and in such cases it becomes much easier to argue that the victim hasn't really lost anything at all. Just as a street mugging doesn't become more or less acceptable based on the amount of cash the victim happened to be carrying at the time, so a fraud shouldn't become more or less acceptable because of how quickly the victims noticed something was wrong.

I would suggest that somebody losing their life savings would feel more violated than somebody losing their wallet, but maybe that's just me. I understand there is physical violence involved in one, but that is hardly the only kind of violence.

[tango]

I would suggest that somebody losing their life savings would feel more violated than somebody losing their wallet, but maybe that's just me. I understand there is physical violence involved in one, but that is hardly the only kind of violence.

I guess a lot would depend on circumstances.

Losing one's life savings due to an internal fraud at the bank would, I suspect, mean the bank would end up having to make good the losses. Losing cash to a mugger potentially means the ongoing fears associated with being around strangers etc.

That's not taking into account the fact that some victims of fraud are just as guilty of fraud themselves but don't end up in court simply because they were the ones that lost out. I'm thinking of the kind of people who hand over cash on the back of a promise of dubious gains and the way cash means the gains can be paid untaxed, the people who think they are getting one over the government by evading taxes only to find their "partner in crime" evaded giving them their money back and so on.