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[–] 165 points 1 week ago* (50 children)

There is absolutely no way I'd have turned those in.

Edit: I found the article, the lad may have a payout coming to him.

It is now held in Brussels as authorities investigate its legal ownership. Belgian law mandates a five-year waiting period for claimants; afterward, the find could be divided between Kobe and the property owner if no owner comes forward and it's not criminal money.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/katematthams/2026/08/15/summer-job-student-finds-gold-stash-worth-over-10-million/

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  • [–] 2 points 5 days ago (1 child)

    Probably a lot less suspicious than going to a bank trying to store 49 gold bars

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  • [–] 3 points 5 days ago

    Idk, I'd just hide them myself. Sell off a tiny bit at a time, keep working, invest in boring ass shit like index funds and when I get AML'd, I'd have a history of spending less than I earn to show. Hardest part would be finding a vendor to sell the gold to that's reputable and won't send goons to rob me, but also won't hit me with AML. I suspect I have a few options available to me, but since I do not own any gold bars, I have no real way to test my theory.

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  • [–] 152 points 1 week ago (38 children)

    Hope he gets his due. I cannot fathom the mind that sees Fuck You-money and immediately thinks "oh gosh, I need to give this to a cop!" But I'm sure he meant well.

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  • [–] 104 points 1 week ago (34 children)

    Same, but probably difficult to turn $10M in gold into spending money without someone noticing.

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  • [–] 2 points 6 days ago

    I'd keep working my day job and melt them into basic jewelry like rings and crosses and pawn them over time. Say I'm getting them at estate sales or something. Use the cash for day to day purchases, buy used cars, etc. Could probably start flipping other stuff to generate more income/muddy the waters in case anyone does look further into it. Gradually work lesser amounts of cash into my bank account. Wouldn't need to buy anything crazy because I have simple tastes.

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  • [–] 58 points 1 week ago* (13 children)

    Yeah, if I found like a hundred thousand in cash, it wouldn’t get into a bank account, I’d just be buying groceries and retail purchases in cash for a long time, and saving the money I would have spent normally. Maybe asking places to make change so if the serial numbers get noted, things get spread about a bit.

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  • [–] 79 points 1 week ago* (10 children)

    hundred thousand in cash

    groceries

    In the U.S., that would get you enough food for weeks!

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  • [–] 24 points 1 week ago (9 children)

    Seriously. Loaded up on groceries this weekend, and total cost for 1.75 carts was well over $600

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  • [–] 19 points 1 week ago (8 children)

    What the actual fuck is going on over there. My condolences

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  • [–] 25 points 1 week ago (5 children)

    Just some minor societal collapse. Don't worry, we'll totally get better...

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  • [–] 5 points 1 week ago (4 children)

    Honestly I'm hoping the feds collapse because frankly speaking they are the problem and I don't see it getting better.

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  • [–] 9 points 1 week ago (3 children)

    How much do you reckon groceries will cost then? From what I've seen, collapse brings neither groceries nor safety.

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  • [–] 4 points 1 week ago (2 children)

    In the short term it'll certainly suck but long term it'd probably end up being better for everyone, the problem with the fed is both a short term and long term problem. While groceries may get expensive for a couple years it's unlikely theyd be nearly as fluctuate as they are now simply cause the states would be incapable of doing nearly as much stupid shit.

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  • [–] 1 point 6 days ago* (1 child)

    It’s not usually just thst groceries get expensive. They usually get incredibly scarce too.

    People starve when things collapse.

    Revolutions happened with people starve.

    Lots of people die when revolutions happen.

    None of it is necessary if democracy can actually happen. We need citizens united, first past the post, and the electoral college systems removed. Then shit can change.

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  • While I agree I also would like to point out that positive change is extremely unlikely at this point, it's not just one or two points within the institutions but basically every institution. I suspect that we have long passed the point of reform without some level of collapse and frankly I'd rather the collapse that destroys the US and prevents it from existing again than the one which will allow similar issues to reform.

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  • [–] 10 points 1 week ago*

    Don't forget any home improvement tasks. Need your yard leveled? Landscapers would love to give a slight cash discount.

    Tree needs taking down? Cash.

    Tuckpointing a chimney? Cash.

    Annoyingly, you can't actually use "cash" cash for a cash down payment on a house. Mortgage lenders like to know where the money is coming from.

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  • [–] 14 points 1 week ago (11 children)

    That's why you bury it in the backyard and only use little bits at a time.

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  • [–] 37 points 1 week ago* (2 children)

    But then you risk some kid digging it up and turning it in to the authorities.

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  • [–] 8 points 1 week ago (3 children)

    How would you even go about turning a huge bar of gold into cash anyways?

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  • [–] 11 points 1 week ago

    A single bar? Chip off a 50g piece, re-melt it, sell it to a jeweler or cash-for-gold place. Rinse & repeat with enough time inbetween and never in the same location twice, and always for cash.

    Multiple bars will either require a multi year plan or more... professional means.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 week ago (4 children)

    Exactly, even if he kept 1 bar any place he could legally exchange it will have to give the appropriate tax documents since its such a high amount

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  • [–] 3 points 1 week ago* (3 children)

    I thought gold was soft enough to be easily cut by a lot of other more common metals

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  • [–] 3 points 1 week ago (2 children)

    True, but you would have to do it so slowly to avoid detection. Small pieces over years maybe decades to avoid detection

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  • [–] 3 points 1 week ago (1 child)

    Still comes out to a lifechanging amount of money for most people, I would think. Maybe some bars left over for your descendants

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  • [–] 1 point 5 days ago

    Time legitimizes things too. Leave some to your grandkids in the will. Tell them to wait at least a decade before cashing anything in and then to not do it all at once. A decade or two and they'll try to sell it, show the will as proof they own the gold. Where did grandpa himself get it from? Who the fuck knows, not like he gave us documents and it's been too long to ask anyone who might know.

    Unless the tax authority directly investigates then, they should be good.

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  • [–] 75 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 child)

    He wasn't alone when he found it. It was an entire construction team, building and digging on a municipally owned site which was publicly accessible and almost certainly monitored, if remotely.

    There was no conceivable way to keep that find quiet under those circumstances.

    So if he did manage to pinch off one, props to him.

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  • [–] 7 points 1 week ago

    Idk. If I lived in a place where healthcare was a right, in which I had reasonable expectations of having my basic needs met, where I felt I didn't need to scramble day in day out just to survive ...

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  • [–] 9 points 1 week ago (8 children)

    Yeah he should have just brought them to the grocery store and paid with them. Idiot.

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  • [–] 11 points 1 week ago (3 children)

    I have a friend who used to do exactly this. He used to be a bit of a conspiracy nut and didn't believe in the stability (or validity, for that matter) of the US dollar. He wanted to do all his monetary exchanges in gold and silver, which were very stable and reliable at the time (about 2 decades ago).

    I don't know how exactly, but he converted any cash he earned into gold and then worked out a deal with his local grocery store to buy his groceries with tiny bits of gold.

    He was a good kid, if not a little dumb. I think the grocery store humored him. Besides, gold is valuable, so they may have been just ripping him off.

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  • [–] 14 points 1 week ago (2 children)

    If he hoarded his gold instead of spent it, he'd be up about 100% over the last five years alone. Only crypto would've given that kind of return in the same time span, with far greater risk.

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