French tourists return $770 left at ATM to shipping worker in Vietnam

Nguyen Ngoc Thinh, a shipping worker based in Dien Ban Ward, said on Wednesday morning that he had received the full amount back just hours after realizing it was missing.

At around 7:30 pm on Tuesday, Thinh stopped at an ATM on Hai Ba Trung Street in Hoi An Ward after work to deposit VND20 million ($770) he had collected for his company during the day.

He placed the cash in the ATM tray but forgot to confirm the transaction before leaving.

Thinh only discovered the mistake after returning home.

“VND20 million ($770) is a huge amount for a deliveryman like me. I was extremely worried,” he said.

Video footage obtained afterward showed two foreign tourists accompanied by a Vietnamese tour guide arriving at the ATM after Thinh had left.

Thinh posted the footage on social media in hopes of identifying them.

Soon afterward, an employee at a spa in Hoi An contacted him and provided the name and phone number of the guide accompanying the tourists.

At around 10:00 pm, with the guide’s help, Thinh reached the hotel where the two French visitors were staying.

“The two tourists were very happy to return all the money to me. They said they had been confused because they did not know where it had come from,” Thinh recalled.

Thinh said he was grateful for the tourists’ honesty and goodwill after recovering the full amount.