Another story from the "Dumbass" files, me.

[Brian37]

They changed ATMs a few years back so that your card is spit back out so you don't forget it.  I guess they figured people would remember their cash as being the most important reason for using an ATM.  

How do you figure it's a crime to take the money?  If you find twenty bucks on the ground and pick it up, you haven't committed a crime.  You basically did the same thing as dropping your money on the ground.

It was a dumb ass move.  Maybe you really should consider some meds for your ADHD now that it's costing you money.

Actually, it is a crime - theft by finding. If you find, for example, a wallet lying in the ground, you’re expected to take reasonable steps to find the owner. An exception would be if the property has been clearly and obviously abandoned (as opposed to lost), such as a book found at the local tip, or a piece of furniture left out on the kerb for waste collection.

In Brian’s case, whoever took his money would have been legally obligated to tell the bank, since cash left in an ATM slot isn’t obviously abandoned.

Boru

It was still in the machine, hanging slightly out, it cannot be considered abandon if the machine itself has a mechanism to pull the money back in. The only way I see it can be considered abandon, is if it fell off the machine to the ground. But I can tell you, at least with the machines I have used, the machine has a slight grip on the money and it won't fall out. 

Someone had to pull that money out of the machine. 

The money slightly hanging out of the machine, would be like your chair or couch being half way in, half way out of your front door. For something to be abandon, it has to be fully out on the curb. Try taking someone's furniture off their front porch, after all, it is outside. Huge difference between a front porch and a curb.

https://www.quora.com/If-you-find-money-...st-take-it

^^^^^^^^^^^ Lawyer speaking in general terms. 

Quote ELLEN, "Generally misplaced property still belongs to the original owner and must be returned".

AND quote ELLEN, "Money which is still in the ATM is forgotten or mislaid. It will belong to the person who withdrew it."

She also makes a distinction between forgotten and abandon.

I read that as the money still having an establishment of ownership because it is still partially in the machine. If it were on the ground that would be a different story.  So Boru is right. 

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There's no grounds to believe the money was "lost" and finding the owner would be as easy as taking the money to the bank and explaining how you found it. In most places in the US if you "find" money you are required to surrender it to the police and wait a specific period, 30-90 days. If nobody claims it with evidence then you get it.

It's not a crime.  

Who are the "they" who require you to surrender found money?  Any time there's a nickel on the ground do you have to surrender it to the police?  Or is there a dollar amount attached to this "requirement"?

Finding a nickel on the ground isn't the same as taking money still partially in an ATM someone left.

There still is a reasonable establishment as to where the source of ownership has been established. You may not know the individual who forgot it, but the bank can figure that out through their computers and cameras. So you do have an obligation to take it to the bank, tell them what time you found it. Or take it to the police.