A San Francisco writer named Patrick Combs had $200 in his bank account when he received a promotional junk mail check in the amount of $95,093.35. It said “non-negotiable” across the front. Nevertheless, Combs deposited the fake check as a joke, never expecting it to clear. Surprisingly, because of a series of bank errors, the check was processed and the funds were credited to his account 10 days later. Combs became obsessed with monitoring his bank account, checking it every 10 minutes to see if the money was still there, but he never spent any of it. Eventually, he had the bank issue a cashier’s check for the full amount, which he placed in a safe deposit box. When the bank became aware of the mistake, security personnel from the bank started harassing Combs to return the money. The bank also served him with legal papers in an attempt to prevent him from cashing the cashier’s check. Combs eventually returned the money in exchange for a letter from the bank admitting to a series of mistakes on its part.
