You can’t profit from bank’s error: court

When 45,000 euros ($57,180) mysteriously landed in their joint bank account last year, an Austrian couple wasted no time asking questions, deciding instead to spend it quick and pay off their debts.

But their luck ran out on Wednesday as a court in Graz, southern Austria, handed them both a five-month suspended jail sentence for fraud after the firm that made the erroneous transfer claimed its money back.

"I thought it was from a Swedish company that still owes me money," the husband told the court, saying "the bank should have checked."

But after hearing evidence from the bank employee handling the account of the couple, whose business had gone bankrupt, presiding judge Sandra Berzkovits decided the couple was not telling the truth.

"Put simply, I don't believe what you say," she said.

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