Making a Withdrawl from Your "Other" Account

Some guys have all the luck and others get arrested and all because they have the same name. In this case it was a case of mistaken identity but it was on the part of the Bank in question and not the customer. Recently, a gentleman named Benjamin Lovell went to a New York branch of Commerce Bank and was informed that his account balance stood at $5 million. Now for someone expecting that much to be in their account it was no big deal. The only thing was, Benjamin Lovell, the one who happened to be in the bank that day, was not the same Benjamin Lovell who's account contained $5 million.

However, that's not to say that the customer at the bank that day was lying. On the contrary; he was (and is) Benjamin Lovell, just not the Benjamin Lovell with the high dollar bank account. The Benjamin Lovell who was in the bank that day was a salesman who was told, quite confidently, by the bank officials that he had nearly $5 million in his account and he was free to withdraw as much as he needed when he needed it. Not one to make too big deal over the fact that despite his protestations he knew he didn't have that much money, Lovell withdrew approximately $2 million and went happily on his way. It didn't yield dividends quite like he hoped and Lovell ended up simply buying some gifts for friends and family, getting a few items for himself, and losing the rest in bad investments. Once the actual (and richer) Benjamin Lovell found out, he and the bank drew charges against the 'other' Lovell and he has now been arrested for larceny.

Now perhaps the 'other' Lovell was wrong for withdrawing the money in the first place, but isn't it also the bank's fault for being so sure that they had the correct Benjamin Lovell without checking all possibilities? I'm fortunate in the fact that my name is unique enough that if I ever run into another person with the same name as myself, it will likely be one of those moments that is often discussed in time travel movies where a paradox will occur and the universe will suddenly end in a massive explosion. Since that's not likely to happen, I don't have to worry about someone showing up at a bank someplace and suddenly finding out that they have more money in their account than they anticipated. Conversely, I doubt I shall walk into a bank anytime soon and find out that I have a lot more money in my account than what I was expecting to find in their. My funds (or paltry lack thereof) are my own and I don't have to worry about it being misallocated or withdrawn.

Lovell probably viewed the situation as one of those arising in the classic game of Monopoly. Because of a 'bank error' he got what he believe to be free money. Now I don't know how much or what Lovell (the less rich one) did to fully convince the bank that he was not really worth $5 million at their bank but let's face it, if we were suddenly told that we had that much money available to us, would all of us take the saintly route and refuse it? I doubt there are very many people out there who could honestly look themselves in the mirror and say they could flat out refuse it. Most of us would take the money and spend it on all the stuff we wanted without considering the possible consequences. It's unfortunate that Lovell is paying for this (pun intended) by spending time in jail. I guess the way the richer Lovell and the bank see it, poorer Lovell should have kept the money in the bank and let things sort out on their own. I guess bank errors in our favor aren't always a good thing.