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What happens if I keep cash sent to me instead of keeping a portion of it and returning the rest to an address in the United States? They have my address but no other information that I can recall. They did not ask me to send them a card or deposit into my account. I was told to keep $100.00 and return the rest of the cash to them.

Ben Miller
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Bimbo
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    You said that they “sent” you $5000, but that they have “no other information” than your address. Did they mail you a check? – Ben Miller Mar 24 '21 at 12:21
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    @BobbyScon This is on-topic, but if you want to suggest a duplicate question, feel free. – Ben Miller Mar 24 '21 at 12:22
  • How do you know this person? – Nosjack Mar 24 '21 at 12:30
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    Voting to close. If you have to ask the question "is it a scam" then the answer is almost always a "yes!". Not only that, how does common sense not let you see the obvious? Why would someone you don't know send you $5k, say "keep $100 for yourself" and have you send the other $4900 back? – RiverNet Mar 24 '21 at 12:43
  • If you do that you'll probably NOT be guily of money laundering, but you might be caught on possession of stolen goods. Call a lawyer, then (on the advice of said lawyer), call the police. – Stian Mar 24 '21 at 12:47
  • hey @bimbo you mentioned somewhere this question is really about your Son, you might be better off posting on the parenting.stacexchange.com site, if your question is really about how to best help your son in this situation. It depends a lot on his age and whether or not he still lives at home, but at that point it's definitely not a personal finance question anymore. – Cameron Roberts Mar 24 '21 at 15:24
  • @Stian Yttervik: No, because it's more likely that the original $5000 didn't actually exist. So Bimbo will have sent $4900 of his/her real money to the scammer. (Or owe the bank that much.) – jamesqf Mar 24 '21 at 18:43
  • @james I would agree, but OP specifically says 'cash'. Which I interpret as an envelope of green bills physically arriving. It's either counterfeit or dirty. – Stian Mar 24 '21 at 23:21
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    @Stian Yttervik: But how would either benefit the sender? If it's counterfeit, the sender gets 49 of his 50 hundreds back. (Unless the OP is supposed to deposit them and send a check, or otherwise pass the bills.) If it was dirty, I don't see how just sending it back would launder it: "Someone sent me this money in the mail" really isn't going to fly. – jamesqf Mar 25 '21 at 04:11
  • @jamesqf well, tax avoidance or smuggling then, perhaps? With this step you break a link and it is much harder to trace where money has come from. I don't know. But I don't think it is a good idea for OP to carry on with it. – Stian Mar 25 '21 at 07:07

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It sounds like you were sent cash? In the mail? If that's the case, I would strongly advise you either return the money in full and insist you never be sent funds again, or call the police. I would opt for option 1.

This money is surely coming from organized crime, you are being used as a "money mule", or as a vector for money laundering. These could be very dangerous people, and they have your address.

Here's why I would return the money in full and tell the people never to contact me again:

In my old neighborhood there was a guy who I used to see around, fairly young and chatty always smiling, the kind of guy who hangs around and talks to anyone who will listen. One day we were waiting at a traffic light, and he told me "I woke up this morning and found out I was rich! I went to the bank machine this morning and I couldn't believe it! This guy I met in jail got me a job, just like that, I'm rich!"

A couple weeks later I saw him again, he wasn't so cheerful, both his arms were in casts from his shoulders to his hands.

Don't take thousands of dollars from organized criminals.

Cameron Roberts
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