ATM workers forget a bag of cash - so an opportunist drives off with it

Police are searching for a man in New Jersey who stole a bag of cash. The bag, containing $150,000, was left on a lawn by workers who were refilling an ATM. They drove off, and were 15 minutes down the road before they realised their mistake. Before they had time to make it back, a man in a van took advantage of their mistake. He drove past the bag twice to check if anyone was watching it, before swooping in and taking it.

It's difficult to imagine how someone could leave that sort of cash just lying around for thieves, but it's surprisingly common.

In the bag
%VIRTUAL-ArticleSidebar-crime-stories%
Earlier this month, a bag of cash containing £425,000 was taken at Hong Kong airport. The money was one of several bags of money that had been unloaded from a Cathay Pacific flight onto a trailer. Three bags fell off the side when the trailer went round a corner, and when staff went back to collect them, only two remained.

In August last year, an armoured truck driver accidentally left a bag containing $21,000 on the roof of his vehicle. He'd picked up the money from a casino in Atlantic City, and on his way back, the bag went missing. Nobody handed it in.

In March 2011 a doughnut store employee in Rhode Island was arrested and charged with taking $1,300. The money had been left on the counter by a man who picked up some sweet treats on the way to the bank.

However, not everyone finds it so easy to walk off with a bag of cash. In December last year, a bank robber in China tried to escape with £255,000. Unfortunately, the bag of cash was so heavy that he struggled to get it out of the bank, and failed to hoist it onto his motorbike. He was arrested at the scene.

And in 2012, a bank robber in Chicago walked into a bank, claimed to be carrying a bomb, and demanded money. Bank tellers put the cash in a bag, but the robber forgot to pick it up and left the bank empty-handed.

Crime stories on AOL Money

Devon drug dealer caught by his own selfie

Lottery worker rigged computer to deliver huge win

The most serious fraud threat facing you today