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Baker finds serious dough, rises to occasion

March 15, 2018

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.

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Play money found in a trash can in Frankfurt
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Polizei Frankfurt

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.

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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.

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"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.

Read moreThe bizarre finds of German customs officers

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.

rs/sms   (AFP, dpa)

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