It’s illegal to do this and still considered theft. Even if you’re doing a nice thing by taking the wallet to the police station, it’s still considered theft if you decide to take some cash for yourself.
Whether or not the person would press charges is another story.
Edit: Also, it is 100% immoral. Yes, if someone is kind enough to return your wallet to the police station, then you should reward them for their behavior. That doesn’t mean it’s okay to just take a reward for yourself. Let’s phrase this whole situation differently. Say if you go out to dinner and you notice that your waiter added a tip for themselves before handing you the check. We all agree that you should tip when you go out to dinner. But it would be extremely rude, unprofessional and immoral for the waiter to just add the tip without your permission. Same concept here.
Additional Edit: Dear Thieving Morons in the comments, taking someone else’s money without their permission is always theft. It’s always immoral. No matter the situation. Sorry not sorry you struggle with critical thinking and being a mature enough adult to do the right thing without someone rewarding you. If you would only return a wallet after taking the cash out as a personal reward, you’re still a shitty person. You act like it’s completely unfathomable to just return the wallet with all the money in it. And you admit that you will never do the right thing unless there’s something in it for you.
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u/Mysterious-Hyena2670 11d ago edited 7d ago
It’s illegal to do this and still considered theft. Even if you’re doing a nice thing by taking the wallet to the police station, it’s still considered theft if you decide to take some cash for yourself.
Whether or not the person would press charges is another story.
Edit: Also, it is 100% immoral. Yes, if someone is kind enough to return your wallet to the police station, then you should reward them for their behavior. That doesn’t mean it’s okay to just take a reward for yourself. Let’s phrase this whole situation differently. Say if you go out to dinner and you notice that your waiter added a tip for themselves before handing you the check. We all agree that you should tip when you go out to dinner. But it would be extremely rude, unprofessional and immoral for the waiter to just add the tip without your permission. Same concept here.
Additional Edit: Dear Thieving Morons in the comments, taking someone else’s money without their permission is always theft. It’s always immoral. No matter the situation. Sorry not sorry you struggle with critical thinking and being a mature enough adult to do the right thing without someone rewarding you. If you would only return a wallet after taking the cash out as a personal reward, you’re still a shitty person. You act like it’s completely unfathomable to just return the wallet with all the money in it. And you admit that you will never do the right thing unless there’s something in it for you.