Honesty is the best policy — except in extortion

When a German woman found a wallet containing 1,000 euros ($1,220) she decided it was better to get a reward from the owner than to keep the money — even if that meant resorting to extortion, police said on Friday.

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"It was a bit stupid. She could just have kept the wallet," said a spokeswoman for police in the southwestern city of Darmstadt. "But she wanted the finder's reward — and might have got one anyway. But she opted to extort it instead."

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Police said the 47-year-old found the owner's phone number in the wallet and told the pensioner she could only have it back for 100 euros "plus 20 euros travel costs".

The owner agreed to the terms, and tipped off police, who arrested the woman with the wallet at the handover point.