A Man Deposited a Junk Mail Check for $95,093 as a Joke and the Bank Cleared It

In 1995, a San Francisco man named Patrick Combs received a piece of junk mail from the Association of Certified Liquidators. Inside was a promotional check for $95,093.35 - a marketing gimmick designed to get people to sign up for a get-rich-quick scheme.

The same mailing went to approximately 40 million Americans. Almost all of them threw it away.

Combs did not throw it away. He looked at the check, thought it would be funny to see what happened, endorsed it with a smiley face, and deposited it at an ATM at First Interstate Bancorp.

He was, in his own words, "absolutely certain the bank would not cash it."

The bank cleared the full amount by the next business day.

The reason was obscure but legally sound. A 1990 revision to the Uniform Commercial Code meant that printing "non-negotiable" on a check does not actually invalidate it as a negotiable instrument. The promotional check had valid routing numbers, an account number, the correct format for amount in figures and words, a date, and a signature line. It met every technical requirement of a real check.

Combs withdrew the money and placed it in a cashier's check in his safe deposit box. Then he called lawyers.

Six lawyers told him the same thing: the money was legally his.

The bank disagreed. They wanted it back. For months, Combs and First Interstate went back and forth. The bank could not simply reverse the transaction because Combs had already withdrawn the funds.

In October 1995, Combs returned the money. Not because he had to - but because he wanted to. His one condition: the bank had to provide a written letter acknowledging that the error was entirely theirs.

They did.

Combs later wrote a book about the experience called Man 1, Bank 0 and turned it into a one-man stage show that has been performed hundreds of times.

A smiley face, an ATM, and a legal loophole nobody knew existed. The check that 40 million people threw away was worth $95,093.35. One person deposited it as a joke - and the joke was on the bank.