Elderly Dementia Patient Discards 20 Million Won Check in Trash Can... Police Recover It

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Jung-yoon] A man in his 70s with dementia symptoms threw a check he received upon the maturity of his savings into a trash can, but thanks to the police's efforts, it was returned to its owner.

According to the Gwangjin Police Station in Seoul on the 24th, on the 17th at around 1 p.m., a sanitation worker discovered a 20 million won check while sorting recyclables in a trash can inside the waiting room of Gunja Station in Gwangjin-gu and reported it as lost property.

The police checked whether a report had been filed to return the check to its owner but confirmed that it was a valid check with no loss report. They then contacted the issuing financial institution and reached out to Mr. A, a man in his 70s who had received the check, and his family, but they responded that they were unaware of the check.

Working with the financial institution, the police confirmed that Mr. A was the issuer of the check and that he had received it upon the maturity of his savings. Later, through closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage, they confirmed that Mr. A threw the check along with tissues from his pocket at around 11:47 a.m. on the 17th.

The check was handed over to Mr. A's wife on the 22nd of this month. Mr. A, who is suffering from dementia symptoms, had received the matured savings as a check, kept it in his pocket, and accidentally threw it away with the trash. His wife expressed gratitude to the police, saying, "My husband is a dementia patient who has difficulty recognizing objects and tends to put trash in his pocket and throw it away."

A police official said, "We made efforts to locate the owner by collaborating with the financial institution regarding the high-value check that was not reported lost."