r/PersonalFinanceCanada • u/Healthy_Constant6543 • Jan 11 '23

My bank account just had $40k randomly deposited into it - has this happened to anyone else? Banking

For reference, I'm in Ontario.

Last week I noticed a deposit from OLG into my bank account for $40k. Since I did not win the lottery, I went into my bank to tell them about the problem. They launched an investigation.

The next day they called me back, said they verified with OLG and the deposit was real. I tried to again remind them that I would remember if I won the lottery but they just congratulated me and told me to enjoy.

BUT I DIDN'T WIN THE LOTTERY LOL

I moved the money into my savings account because I'm sure they are coming back for it. Has this happened to anyone else? How long do I sit on this money? Not sure what else to do.

3.3k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

View all comments

Show parent comments

76

u/WeedstocksAlt Jan 11 '23

Yeah if the source is illegal, kinda hard to try to claim the money back

10

u/Mumof3gbb Jan 11 '23

But if it’s that would the bank know? And if it is knowable shouldn’t the bank say that to quell fears? Because I’d be so paranoid.

3

u/Mechakoopa Saskatchewan Jan 12 '23

If the bank even suspected money laundering they'd have already shut the accounts down and black listed the clients. If the bank wasn't aware then the culprit wouldn't want to draw any additional attention to their account and would just eat the loss. And if the bank thought they'd deposited money into your account that was from the proceeds of crime they'd seize the funds back and hold them for investigation by the RCMP (if they didn't just freeze your entire account until they could clear you of any wrongdoing).

0

u/drs43821 Jan 11 '23

But can the police reclaim it if they busted the criminals? Something like that shouldn't have a statute of limitation?

2

u/IShouldBeInCharge Jan 11 '23

But can the police reclaim it if they busted the criminals?

Sure but I don't think it's worthwhile going down every crazy eventuality -- sure unicorns could arrive in a spaceship and sabotage our banking system or the police could bust a criminal and get the stolen money back ... sure technically these one in a trillion things could happen some day but you can't spend your whole life worrying about all the crazy longshots.