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Shoe box found amidst rubble caught the attention of a worker in Nova Mutum, Mato Grosso, and led a couple to return the money to the owner, after the owner contacted the company responsible for the dumpster.
The construction worker Daniel Marques and administrative assistant Maria das Dores returned to the owner a shoe box with R$ 10,050 in cash, found inside a dumpster in Nova Mutum, Mato Grosso.
The incident occurred last Saturday (25), when Daniel was looking for clothes in good condition discarded near his workplace and ended up finding the amount among materials thrown in the dumpster.
The return was arranged after the owner of the money contacted the company responsible for the equipment, stating that she had accidentally discarded important documents during a moving process.
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According to Daniel, who reported to UOL, the version presented by the woman was considered compatible because no one besides him and his wife knew there was money inside the box found in the rubble.
Money was found during a search for work clothes
In an interview with UOL, Daniel stated that he usually checks dumpsters near his workplace when he notices the disposal of clothes that can still be used in the construction routine.
The practice, according to the worker, was not related to the search for valuable objects, but to the reuse of durable pieces for activities carried out on the construction site.
“I work in construction and sometimes good clothes appear to use at work,” said Daniel, explaining why he decided to observe the material that had been discarded in that location.
During the inspection, a R$ 50 bill near a cardboard box made him pay more attention to what had been thrown in the dumpster.
Upon opening the package, the construction worker found a shoe box with several bills, a situation that led him to check the contents before deciding what to do with the material.
The count indicated exactly R$ 10,050, an amount that, according to Daniel’s account, was not expected by him in a search initially made for work clothes.
After the discovery, the builder stated he was shocked by the presence of a large sum amidst the rubble, mainly because he did not know the origin of the money.
Without immediately identifying to whom the box belonged, Daniel preferred to talk to Maria das Dores before taking any action related to the found amount.
Couple decided to wait for the owner to come forward
After confirming that the notes were genuine, Daniel called his wife and explained what he had found inside the dumpster near his workplace.
In his account to UOL, he said that the lack of information about the origin of the amount caused concern, which led the couple to keep the money and wait for a possible inquiry.
“I was afraid it was illicit money. I took it home and we decided to wait for someone to look for it,” Daniel said, recounting the decision made with Maria das Dores.
The choice, according to the worker, was made without immediately disclosing the find to neighbors, colleagues, or acquaintances, a measure that later helped identify the person looking for the belongings.
Days later, a woman contacted the company where Daniel works to find out who was responsible for the dumpster and to try to recover items mistakenly discarded.
Since the information about the amount had not been disclosed, Daniel considered it relevant that the woman reported the loss of objects before knowing about the money found.
According to the worker, the owner asked for help to locate important documents that had been discarded, but initially did not mention the existence of cash.
From this contact, Daniel decided to ask if there was also any money lost among the objects, and the response received reinforced the identification of the box’s owner.
Owner said she discarded the wrong box
The woman’s account led Daniel to question whether, in addition to the mentioned documents, there was money among the items discarded during the move.
Upon receiving confirmation, the builder told UOL that he understood it to be the owner of the box, because the information about the amount had been kept only between him and his wife.
“I was sure it was her because I hadn’t told anyone about the money. I asked if there was lost money, and she said yes,” Daniel reported.
After this confirmation, the couple arranged a meeting to return the money, maintaining the decision made since the moment the money was taken home.
According to the builder, the woman was in the process of moving and discarded the wrong box, which would have caused the money to end up in the dumpster along with other materials.
The confusion, according to the version reported by Daniel, occurred during the organization of belongings, when objects that should have been preserved ended up mixed with the disposal.
The worker said that the owner showed distress upon recovering the amount and related her reaction to the period she spent not knowing if she would find the money.
“You could see how much she suffered from losing that money,” said Daniel, describing the meeting where he and Maria das Dores returned the amount.
Return of the money gained attention
Before the delivery, Daniel and Maria das Dores documented the case to share with family members, as reported by the builder after the story began to circulate publicly.
Subsequently, the images and the story reached the press, and the situation gained attention for involving the return of an amount of money found without apparent identification.
In an interview with UOL, the worker stated that he was pleased with the attention, associating the visibility of the episode with the decision to return the found amount.
“I was happy with the attention and for it being linked to my honesty,” said Daniel, commenting on how the story became known after the return.
The sequence reported by Daniel indicates that the couple chose to wait for the owner, confirm the presented version, and deliver the amount to the person who had lost it.
Even without visible identification on the box, the money was kept under the couple’s responsibility until someone approached the company and provided information compatible with the loss.
The episode also highlights a common risk in residential moves: similar boxes can be mistakenly discarded when documents, personal objects, and valuables get mixed during organization.
In Nova Mutum, according to the worker’s account, the loss did not become permanent because the amount was found by Daniel and kept safe until the owner was located.
After the attention, Daniel began to be mentioned due to the return of the money he found during a search for work clothes in a dumpster.
Maria das Dores also participated in the decision, as she was contacted by her husband right after the discovery and helped to decide that the amount should be preserved until the owner’s confirmation.
The return ended the owner’s search and confirmed that the mistakenly discarded box contained R$ 10,050 in cash, an amount recovered after contact was made with the company where Daniel works.
Until the publication of the available information, the name of the woman who recovered the money found inside the shoebox in Nova Mutum was not disclosed.
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