In May, Vicky Umodu searched through online ads to buy furniture for her new home in San Bernardino County, California. She stumbled upon a free set of sofas on Craiglist and immediately claimed them, incognizant that $36,000 was waiting for her inside one of the couch cushions.
Before getting the furniture, Umodu thought the Craiglist ad was a scam until she called the family that was giving the furniture away. They explained to her that the furniture belonged to a loved one who had recently died, and they were liquidating everything on their loved one’s property.
“I just moved in, and I don’t have anything in my house,” Umodu told ABC 7. “I was so excited, so we picked it up and brought it in.”
Upon bringing it home, the California woman noticed something strange about the couch, specifically one of the cushions.
“I thought it was a heat pad,” she said. But her theory was proven wrong when she realized there wasn’t an electrical cord. Unzipping the cushion, she discovered several envelopes with thousands of dollars in cash inside them– totaling $36,000.
“I was just telling my son, ‘Come, come, come!’ I was screaming. This….This is money! I need to call the guy.'”
While some people would keep the money without informing the other family, Umodu said she wasn’t tempted to keep any of it, and without hesitation, she returned the money.
“God has been kind to me and my children. They’re all alive and well,” Umodu said. “I have three beautiful grandchildren, so what can I ever ask from God?”
The family informed Umodu that they, too, discovered money in their loved one’s house, but not as much as Umodu. While the reasoning behind their deceased family member stashing cash around the house is unknown, the family was grateful that Umodu was kind and selfless enough not to obtain the “finders keepers” mentality.
To show gratitude, the family awarded the good samaritan $2,200 to assist her in paying for a new refrigerator.
“I was not expecting a dime from him. I was not,” she said.
