What of the opposite? What if someone made a clerical mistake and zeroed out this couple's balance. Would the bank not have to give them the money back? Or is that different because only one couple is harmed a lot, as opposed to thousands of customers harmed a little?
The most obvious thing here is that you give it back. And the couple knew they were up to no good.
I think the most interesting part of this would be if the bank deposited $120,000 into your account, and then you put that into a conservative growth investment, some sort of high liquidity bond that you could take it out from, would you get to keep the interest...?
The FDIC is funded by tax payers
Otherwise losses like this are probably paid by private insurance, which is passed onto other customers of the bank in interest rates, fees, and other financial charges/products.
The primary error is on the bank, of course, but it happens. The bank is not running a lottery. If banks could get away with just gifting people hundreds of thousands of dollars and then saying "Oops! Well, our loss, your gain, enjoy the free money!" and then just write it off as a loss, ping the FDIC or private insurance to fulfill the loss at no cost, it'd be a ... massive, massive front for money laundering and fraud.
The most obvious thing here is that you give it back. And the couple knew they were up to no good.
I think the most interesting part of this would be if the bank deposited $120,000 into your account, and then you put that into a conservative growth investment, some sort of high liquidity bond that you could take it out from, would you get to keep the interest...?
You realize when someone steals from a bank that the people with said money in bank are not going to literally lose their money because it's insured by FDIC and I'm pretty sure this money was more of a clerical error if anything so if anything the only ones who lost money are the bank. The error is completely on the bank.
The FDIC is funded by tax payers
Otherwise losses like this are probably paid by private insurance, which is passed onto other customers of the bank in interest rates, fees, and other financial charges/products.
The primary error is on the bank, of course, but it happens. The bank is not running a lottery. If banks could get away with just gifting people hundreds of thousands of dollars and then saying "Oops! Well, our loss, your gain, enjoy the free money!" and then just write it off as a loss, ping the FDIC or private insurance to fulfill the loss at no cost, it'd be a ... massive, massive front for money laundering and fraud.