So much for doing the right thing.
A German man who returned a $4.7 million check to sweets giant Haribo after being found on a train platform was honored for his honesty with a few packages of candy, reports said on Monday.
“I thought it was a bit cheap,” Anauer Gee told the German tabloid Bild. independent,
Earlier this year, Anour, 38, was traveling home after a trip with his mother when he noticed the check on a train platform, apparently abandoned and unclaimed.
He couldn’t believe his eyes when he took a closer look and realized the check was worth €4,631,538.80, or about $4.7 million, he told Bild.
“There was such a huge amount on it that I couldn’t even pronounce it,” Anour told the outlet.
The check was made out to Haribo from the German supermarket Rewe.
The Good Samaritan reached out to the gummy bear makers and informed them that they had received the check and the company asked her to destroy it and send proof that she did.
Once he shipped with the proof, he was shocked when he received a six-pack of Haribo products a few days later, an apparent non-monetary thank you from the company.
When Anour caught on that the treats didn’t really measure up, Haribo defended the decision, saying it was their “standard package that we send as a thank you.”
The company said, “Since it was a designated cheque, no one other than our company could encash it.”