A man who purchased a disused storage locker for £380 at an auction was stunned to discover a safe inside containing £5.7 million in cash. The auction was led by Dan Dotson, star of the TV show Storage Wars.
Dan Dotson recalled the story in a YouTube video from November 2018. He explained that the buyer had the safe opened by a specialist, expecting it to be empty, but instead found $7.5 million (£5.7 million) in cash.
Soon after, the buyer received a mysterious phone call from a lawyer representing the original owner of the storage unit. The lawyer offered £455,400 to buy back the unit and its contents. The buyer initially refused, but when the offer was doubled to £910,700, he accepted and returned the locker.
Although the buyer walked away with nearly £1 million, he was £4.5 million worse off than if he had kept the cash. However, Dan Dotson noted that the buyer felt satisfied with the deal, knowing he had acted with a clear conscience.
Dan Dotson and his wife Laura discussed the ethical dilemma, with Laura admitting she would have accepted the £910,700 and felt happy, describing such auctions as a 'modern day treasure hunt.' Dan questioned how the original owner could forget such a large sum of money, but acknowledged that sometimes others may be in charge of such assets.
