A bakery worker in Frankfurt uncovered a massive amount of perfectly packaged €500 bills in a trash can. Without knowing the bills were fake, he turned the counterfeit cash over to police and is being hailed as a hero.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Polizei Frankfurt
Advertisement
Frankfurt police praised the actions of a man who thought he stumbled across the fortune of a lifetime and still turned it over to the authorities.
In the early hours of Monday morning, a 56-year-old bakery worker came across an astonishing find, police said in a statement on Tuesday.
Sitting in a food waste bin, the man found multiple bundles of €500 ($620) bills that were pristinely packaged and bundled inside a suitcase. The bills totaled €8 million ($9.9 million).
Without realizing that his pile of cash was actually a pile of worthless play money, the bakery worker brought the cash to the nearest police station.
"There's never been so much cash on a Frankfurt police precinct counter," police said in a statement, adding that "the colleagues who were present were visibly surprised."
Upon closer inspection, authorities determined that the money was fake and used as part of a game — but they did not specify which game.
Frankfurt police thanked the man for turning in the cash, saying that he "showed absolutely model behavior" that should set an example for others to follow.
The "fake money" is now being held in evidence and will likely later be burned.
How to waste taxpayers' money in Germany
Shiny pigs, gilded houses, and a viewing platform in the middle of nowhere all triggered complaints from the German Taxpayers Federation. The group listed some of the more egregious cases in its annual "black book."
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/J. Woitas
When glitterpigs fly
German taxpayers paid €100,000 ($117,000) for the floating sculpture of this "Glitzerschwein" (glitter pig) to be installed in Halle, southern Germany. The half-tonne sculpture was elected by city officials as a symbol of Halle's history — a herd of pigs supposedly helped discover the first salt deposit in the city. The crystals symbolize grains of salt.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/J. Woitas
Too much money, too little view
The town of Brakel near Paderborn first decided to build a fish ladder on its local stream. Then, the city officials also built a €6,200 platform for the visitors. bringing them literally a step closer to nature.
Image: Bund der Steuerzahler NRW/Bärbel Hildebrandt
Solar-powered garbage disposal
The city of Potsdam has started introducing new, Swiss-made, solar-powered trash cans at a cost of €10,500 each. The can has a built-in garbage press which expands its storage capacity, and an electronic "fullness" indicator. Still, its price tag is a far cry from traditional dumpsters, which cost about €300 apiece.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/R. Hirschberger
Now a shiny eyesore
An artistic statement or a waste of money? A local artist gilded a large house in a struggling part of Hamburg, covering an area of some 300 square meters (3,230 square feet) with real gold leaves. Cultural authorities donated over €85,600 for the project.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/B. Marks
Ghost car park
The public garage in downtown Winsen, near Hamburg, has been open for months. Still, the building's 534 parking spots are mostly unused and all but the ground-floor level are unsettlingly empty. The town paid almost €11 million to build the garage, and it will continue to cover the business deficit in the years to come.
Image: Bund der Steuerzahler
Lime tree squared
This 400-year-old lime tree in Oberursel near Frankfurt is dying. Local officials have decided to say goodbye to it by making it a part of an art project titled "The passage of time." The celebrity tree will be enclosed in a metal frame with no glass. The price is €77,000, plus a negligible opportunity cost in lost firewood.
Image: Bund der Steuerzahler
More MPs, more problems
Thanks to Germany's electoral system and September's unusually diverse results, the new parliament is set to have over 700 members, or about 100 more than usual. The bump will force another €75 million out of citizens' pockets in 2018 alone, says the German Taxpayers Federation.
