Man finds candy company’s lost $4.7 million check, gets gummy bears in ‘cheap’ reward
So much for doing the right thing.
A German man who returned a $4.7 million check to the sweets giant Haribo after he found it on a train platform was rewarded for his honesty with a few packages of candy, reports said Monday.
“I thought that was a bit cheap,” Anouar G told the German tabloid Bild, according to the Independent.
Earlier this year, Anouar, 38, was traveling home after a visit with his mom when he saw the check on a train platform, apparently discarded and unattended.
When he took a closer look and realized the check was for €4,631,538.80, or about $4.7 million, he couldn’t believe his eyes, he told Bild.
“There was such a large sum on it that I couldn’t even pronounce it,” Anouar told the outlet.
The check was made out to Haribo from Rewe, a German supermarket.
The good Samaritan reached out to the gummy bear maker to inform it he’d found the check and the company asked him to destroy it and send proof that he did.
Once he’d sent along the evidence, he was surprised when he received six packs of Haribo products a few days later, an apparent non-monetary thank you from the company.
When Anouar griped that the treats didn’t really measure up, Haribo defended the decision and said it was the “standard package that we send as a thank you.”
“Since it was a named check, nobody but our company could have redeemed it,” the company said.
