The $500 Storage Wars Unit That Yielded $7.5 Million Cash!

 

 

For about forty years now, people in the US have been hunting for bargains at abandoned storage unit auctions. If a renter fails to pay the fees on their container, all their belongings are sold off to the highest bidder for next to nothing. This phenomenon even spawned a popular reality TV show, where no one knows what treasures (or junk) a unit might contain.

 

A lucky Californian recently paid just $500 for one such storage unit. Upon opening the door, he found a sealed safe inside. He called in professional safecrackers. Two different experts were unable to crack the safe; only the third attempt finally succeeded.

To the utter amazement of everyone present, the safe contained a whopping $7.5 million in cash!

The auction was led by Dan Dotson of the show Storage Wars. Dotson, who has been auctioning off people's forgotten belongings since the 1970s, laughed about the situation at a charity event in Indio: "The guy couldn't open the safe at first. He called two different experts, the third one finally got it—and his eyes practically popped out! The money was old, but intact, like it was straight from the bank."

 

 

The former owners of the unit quickly resurfaced after seeing their savings sold off for a pittance and immediately called an attorney. The lawyer contacted the new owner with an offer: "Return the money, and you'll get $600,000 as a finder's fee."

The lucky winner refused the initial offer. After some intense back-and-forth negotiation, they settled on a $1.2 million reward. The buyer returned the $7.5 million and walked away with his $1.2 million, plus the original $500 he spent on the unit—meaning he became a millionaire for an investment of just five hundred bucks. That’s not just a lottery win; it’s a lottery win on steroids!

So, if you happen to have $7.5 million in cash and are storing it in a rented facility—make sure you don't forget to pay the storage fee!