Would a thief respond to a reward "no questions asked?"

[Zeke]

Have you ever known of a situation where something, cash or otherwise, was returned for a cash reward?

[GH85Carrera]

Nope.

[911 Rod]

A stupid one.

[Geronimo '74]

Depends on what was stolen.

[stomachmonkey]

Only if the value of the reward exceeds the value of "the thing" that was taken.

I have some sentimental items that I would pay more than their monetary value to get back.

[Tervuren]

Lets take the backpack that a forum member "stole" and made a thread about.

It would quite possibly be returned should the owner put a reward out such that it reached the person that "stole" it.

However, if someone knew who it belonged it, and chose to take it, likely not.

[fastfredracing]

So , there is this local guy. The local police refer to him as "slingblade" He is huge, is known to have lots of guns, and is totally off his meds, nutso. Everybody I know is scared to death of him
About 3-4 years ago, he tried to run down an outdoor church service . He drove his truck at the Sunday morning church goers, full throttle, but got stuck in the mud before he could get them. I think his ex gf was in the congregation
You may remember this from the news .
Anyhow, the local police were worried about how to bring him in. They were fearing, either a big brawl, and or possibly gunfire . Like I said, he is a big burly guy . 3-4 officers would really struggle to man handle him .
They came up with this plan, they told them that they had found a duffel bag full of his clothing, id, and there was also few hundred dollars cash in it . Could he stop by the station, to identify it .
Sure enough, next morning, he calls the detective, and walks right into the station, where they instantly took him down and handcuffed him .
Seems too good to be true, but the detective told me this story himself .
Not really apples to apples here, but a good story none the less .

[biosurfer1]

I see those stories once in a while in the news, usually dad's who are behind on child support payments. Send them a flyer that says they won a cruise and show up to some hotel conference room to collect and 99% of the time they do... And the police are waiting

[drkshdw]

No. But a friend of a friend of a friend 'found' a violin a number of years ago. Came across a lost poster for it. Called the number and asked if there was a reward. The owner said $20. The guy who found it took it to a pawn shop and pawned it for $200. My point being that if the reward isn't enough to equal the 'value' of what is lost, there is little chance someone will return it. Especially if it's 'found' by someone with ulterior motives.

[herr_oberst]

Originally Posted by biosurfer1

I see those stories once in a while in the news, usually dad's who are behind on child support payments. Send them a flyer that says they won a cruise and show up to some hotel conference room to collect and 99% of the time they do... And the police are waiting

Free Raider's tickets apparently work very well to pull the deadbeats into the net.

[speeder]

Originally Posted by drkshdw

No. But a friend of a friend of a friend 'found' a violin a number of years ago. Came across a lost poster for it. Called the number and asked if there was a reward. The owner said $20. The guy who found it took it to a pawn shop and pawned it for $200. My point being that if the reward isn't enough to equal the 'value' of what is lost, there is little chance someone will return it. Especially if it's 'found' by someone with ulterior motives.

I hope he at least told the owner where he could claim it for $200+vig.

I’ve returned lost items and pets and never accepted the reward offered.

[Aerkuld]

Originally Posted by Tervuren

Lets take the backpack that a forum member "stole" and made a thread about.

It would quite possibly be returned should the owner put a reward out such that it reached the person that "stole" it.

However, if someone knew who it belonged it, and chose to take it, likely not.

Whoa! Hold on a minute . . .

Finding a backpack in a hedge and handing it over to the police is very different from stealing a backpack, but I get your point.

I fully expect the individual who 'lost' it would go to the police to reclaim his/her B&E kit - sorry, 'lost property'

[fastfredracing]

Yep, just found a wallet . Only about 40$ in it but all his credit cards .license etc. I could not find the guy on fb, and could not come up with his phone # after a day of searching, so I called his credit card company, and asked them to get a hold of him, and give him my number an address.
Feels good to do the right thing. They suspended his credit card for the day, but the guy was super thankful . He tried to give me a $20. It was worth more in Karma points to me .
I almost ran the thing over pulling out of the gas station on my lunch break . Looked like a wallet, so I turned around and grabbed it .

[speeder]

Originally Posted by fastfredracing

Yep, just found a wallet . Only about 40$ in it but all his credit cards .license etc. I could not find the guy on fb, and could not come up with his phone # after a day of searching, so I called his credit card company, and asked them to get a hold of him, and give him my number an address.
Feels good to do the right thing. They suspended his credit card for the day, but the guy was super thankful . He tried to give me a $20. It was worth more in Karma points to me .
I almost ran the thing over pulling out of the gas station on my lunch break . Looked like a wallet, so I turned around and grabbed it .

Yep. I would always want to give back someone's property simply because it is THEIR property, not mine.

[Tervuren]

Originally Posted by Aerkuld

Whoa! Hold on a minute . . .

Finding a backpack in a hedge and handing it over to the police is very different from stealing a backpack, but I get your point.

I fully expect the individual who 'lost' it would go to the police to reclaim his/her B&E kit - sorry, 'lost property'

True story, I had been riding in a vehicle that was a victim of hit and run.

The guy got away. This was another town about 45 minutes away.

I had gone to my local town's chiropractors office two days after as my neck was letting me know about it.

Sitting next to me in the waiting room as a man with a crew cut telling a story into his cell phone.

The story he was telling was a car chase with a pick up truck. At the end he mentioned his police car was in the body shop and he wouldn't have it back for a little bit.

When he got off the phone I asked him some questions.

Turns out it was the same night.

Turns out it was the same color of truck.

Turns out it was the same make of truck.

Turns out the color of the shirt of the driver was the same.

Turns out the time of the clock was just a few minutes after we were hit.

It would seem that the guy running from us screeched into a parking lot to try to cut away, he was out of our sight at the time. He hit a parked police car with the officer inside.

And that officer was the guy sitting next to me waiting on his wife.

A N.C. state trooper had taken our hit and run report, the guy was a town cop in Matthews N.C. The two incidents were not connected until that point in the chiropractor's office waiting room.

Turns out the guy tried to run away again, but with multiple police cars after him he eventually jumped out of his still moving truck and ran off into the woods. The officer had to block the truck to stop it.

They hunted the driver down with dogs. He had been DUI.

He was also uninsured.

But anyway, sometimes it just takes connecting the right dots.

[ckelly78z]

I think maybe the OP was referring to a bank envelope of cash, at a Porsche show ?

[Cajundaddy]

People do what they do. A thief is not usually remorseful so unlikely to respond. Doesn't believe in karma.

I sorta do believe in karma. One evening at a boat ramp I used the men's room just before heading out for a week long adventure on the lake. Sitting on the trash can lid was a fat wallet with $650 in cash. Damn!

It was getting dark, no cars nearby, all the shops were closed, I just wanted to get out on the water. The guy was a postmaster from Montana or Idaho and he was a long way from home. He was going to need that wallet. Damn!

With no way to contact him and no one around I could trust to hand it off, I took it with me into the wilderness. When I got home a week later I sent him the wallet and a short note. He thanked me and sent me $50 or something which was nice of him but I was in it for the karma points. I figured they might come in handy some day.

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by ckelly78z

I think maybe the OP was referring to a bank envelope of cash, at a Porsche show ?

Pretty much.