Dave Rishar
Silver Member
Several scenarios here. Make of them what you will.
1. At the ATM outside of the bank, I find a debit/credit card. It has a name, a CC number, and the security number on the back. It was not signed. The wrong person could conceivably have some fun with that. The bank was open at the time, so I walked in and turned it in to a teller. Was that correct? And before you answer, how do I know that the teller did the right thing with it? Should I have given it to the police? Would they have done the right thing with it? Should I have simply shredded it? Should I have not trusted others and simply tracked that person down myself? What if the bank hadn't been open?
2. At a park, I pulled a dog tag with the owner's name, phone number, and address. This is personally identifiable information and I didn't feel comfortable throwing it in the trash, so I phoned the owner as I was shutting things down for the day. She lived only a few blocks from the park and it was no hardship to swing by there on my way home. She wanted the tag, so I dropped it off. Was it my responsibility to contact the owner? Should I have gone to a responsible authority instead? What if the owner had been a few towns away? Was I morally obligated to make this my problem?
3. At another park, I pulled a ring worth some money. There were no identifying marks. I kept it, and it's currently in my ring display box. Is this wrong? If not, would it be wrong if there were identifying characteristics? If there were identifying characteristics and I wanted to track the owner down, what would constitute due diligence, morally if not legally? To date, I have not sold a ring and I'm not sure that I ever would. By recovering a potentially valuable ring that can't be easily attributed to an owner and keeping it instead of selling it, am I profiting by it?
There are lots of gray areas here. Identifying characteristics make the choice easier for me, but sometimes I think that it's not quite that simple.
1. At the ATM outside of the bank, I find a debit/credit card. It has a name, a CC number, and the security number on the back. It was not signed. The wrong person could conceivably have some fun with that. The bank was open at the time, so I walked in and turned it in to a teller. Was that correct? And before you answer, how do I know that the teller did the right thing with it? Should I have given it to the police? Would they have done the right thing with it? Should I have simply shredded it? Should I have not trusted others and simply tracked that person down myself? What if the bank hadn't been open?
2. At a park, I pulled a dog tag with the owner's name, phone number, and address. This is personally identifiable information and I didn't feel comfortable throwing it in the trash, so I phoned the owner as I was shutting things down for the day. She lived only a few blocks from the park and it was no hardship to swing by there on my way home. She wanted the tag, so I dropped it off. Was it my responsibility to contact the owner? Should I have gone to a responsible authority instead? What if the owner had been a few towns away? Was I morally obligated to make this my problem?
3. At another park, I pulled a ring worth some money. There were no identifying marks. I kept it, and it's currently in my ring display box. Is this wrong? If not, would it be wrong if there were identifying characteristics? If there were identifying characteristics and I wanted to track the owner down, what would constitute due diligence, morally if not legally? To date, I have not sold a ring and I'm not sure that I ever would. By recovering a potentially valuable ring that can't be easily attributed to an owner and keeping it instead of selling it, am I profiting by it?
There are lots of gray areas here. Identifying characteristics make the choice easier for me, but sometimes I think that it's not quite that simple.
} I had my house robbed. They took all my gold and detecting finds. Their was rings from gone relatives,etc ,plus my detecting finds which are important to only me. So think about if you lost things that you couldn't replace. Ya Even diamonds!! How would you feel to get your lost memory back? What goes around ,comes around. I could write a book about the stories behind lost rings that I have returned. One guy had custom wedding rings for 37 years. It went thru the war with him and he lost it at the beach. He called me from a tel. number that I left at the beach office. When he called me. I already had his ring. He was so HAPPY!!!! He sent me $100. When hearing the stories behind these lost rings. It makes me feel REALLY good inside to add another memory to their recovery. I was in the paper for returning a ring that was lost for 25 years. This person remembers the day he lost it playing football with his kids. Do what's in your heart. You can't go wrong if you do that.
