Policyholder Returns Claim Money 40 Years Later

Lingering guilt may have been what moved someone who filed an insurance claim 40 years ago to come clean with a Gastonia, N.C., insurance agency.

The Gaston Gazette reports that whoever took a $280 claim check in 1973 felt guilty and sent the money back with a letter to Watson Insurance.

The letter read, “To whom it may concern: I filed an improper insurance claim in 1973, and I wanted to repay the money your company paid me. So please accept this $280, as repayment. Thank you, a friend.”

Tom Watson had been working at the agency for eight years when the check was issued. He said he had no way of tracking down the person or the claim, so he donated the money to the Salvation Army.