Woman Wakes Up To $5,300 In Her Bank Account. Can She Keep It?: ‘I Don’t Want To Go To Jail’

Getting some unexpected money is always a nice surprise. But if you don’t know where it came from, can you keep it?

There’s a lot of confusion about money on the internet—specifically, what happens when you suddenly have a lot of it. For example, one Louisiana family awoke to find $50 billion in their bank account. Another woman claimed her work overpaid her by $32,000. In both these cases, the recipients were left wondering how much of the money, if any, they were allowed to keep.

Now, another user is sharing their experience of suddenly receiving a lot of money. But is there a chance she can keep it?

How Did This Woman Get $5,300?

In a video with over 299,000 views, TikTok user Sarah (@lilsaltine7) says she woke up one morning to find an extra $5,337 in her bank account. The problem? It wasn’t hers—at least, she doesn’t think.

“I shouldn’t have gotten that much money,” she explains. “It was a tax return from the IRS, and I’ve already gotten my tax return. It was not nearly that much.”

Knowing that something was wrong, Sarah began calling everyone possible to try to resolve the issue. However, every route she tried led to a dead end.

“I called the IRS. Never can I ever reach a person. It’s just always a little robot, and then they have no idea what I’m talking about,” she explains. “I call my bank. They’re like, ‘Oh yeah, that’s not our department. Let me send you over.’ ‘OK, I can send you over to this department.’ ‘Oh, that’s not our department,’ ‘I’ll send you over to this department.’ It’s been, like, 7,000 different departments, and I haven’t gotten an answer yet.”

Finally, Sarah says she reached the person she thought could help with her issues. There were two problems with this. First, the person was in the bathroom—“I hear a toilet flush, and I’m like, ‘This lady’s in the bathroom,’” Sarah recalls. Second, the person didn’t actually know what to do.

“Long story short, I’m keeping the money because I’ve done everything I can,” she concludes.

What Should You Do When The IRS Sends You Too Much Money?

If you received your tax return and it’s larger than expected, don’t panic. This year, some are reporting higher returns. The IRS itself also says that returns not matching what you expected are possible and that it will inform taxpayers of why the change was made.

However, if you received a tax return that you’re certain does not belong to you, the IRS advises taking a few steps.

First, one should call the Automated Clearing House (ACH) department of their bank. From there, they should tell them to process a return to the IRS. After that, the person should call the IRS and explain why they were returning the refund.

If the return was done via check, there are other steps advised by the IRS. Specifically, they say one should write “VOID” on the check, then return it within 21 days to the appropriate IRS location with an explanation of why it is being returned.

For those considering just holding onto the money, it’s a bad idea. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau notes that, once a bank realizes it has given you funds in error, it can simply take it back.

She Has An Update

In an update, Sarah says that she did not, in fact, keep the money.

According to Sarah, shortly after posting her video, she received a message from someone who had not only the correct phone number to call to resolve the issue but the specific extension of the person who could handle it.

“That’s what I needed: an extension to call,” she says.

Through this person, Sarah was able to confirm that the deposit was a mistake. Now, she says she’ll be returning it.

As for why she’s so eager to return it, she cited a story of a family who accidentally received a considerable amount of money in their bank account, spent it, and then were charged as a result.

“I’m not going to jail. Y’all can go to jail, okay? I’m not going to jail,” Sarah says.

Commenters Are Divided

In the comments section, some users said she should simply keep the money.

“Take the blessing and keep going,” reads one comment.

“It’s their error, you don’t need to fix it for them,” declared another.

However, many others countered that if the money truly didn’t belong to her, the rightful owner would find a way to claw it back.

“They’ll reclaim it. Make sure that money isn’t spent girly,” said a user.

“Wait don’t play bout that, they always find out,” offered a second.

BroBible reached out to Sarah via TikTok direct message and comment and the IRS via email.