What would you do?
A man in Abu, Yamaguchi Prefecture, who was mistakenly paid 46.3 million yen (about $358,000) in coronavirus pandemic aid.
What do you think he did with the money?
The money was meant for 463 people in the town. There was a mistake (formatting error) so they thought the first account would distribute the money to everyone.
When the town realized the mistake, it explained the situation to the man and asked him to return the money, and he initially agreed
What would you do in this situation?
However, when contacted by an Abu official on April 21st, the man said, "I've already moved all the money, and I can't get it back."
Between April 8th and 21st he had secretly withdrawn almost all the money. Then the man disappeared. He cleared out his bank account, quit his job, and moved out of his house.
What do you think he spent the money on?
Do you think the town can get the money back?
Reports said that the payment companies the man used to transfer the money have paid back most of the money (over 35 million yen) to Abu.
What’s your opinion of this man?
Technically he isn’t a criminal…
He had to withdraw 600,000 yen a day for 2 weeks to take out all the money
A lawyer has said if he spends all the money and has no assets, the town won’t be able to get the money back
He told his lawyer he lost all the money gambling online
In 2021 some Japanese people who had worked in the US in the past mistakenly received a cheque for $1,400 dollars from the US government.
This was coronavirus aid for all Americans and US citizens.
If you received the cheque, would you cash it?