Iowa State student Shannon Kressin didn’t know her money card was missing until her bank called her to pick it up.

Somebody had turned it in. Moreover, that same somebody had first stolen the card, withdrawn money from it and then turned both back in.

Kressin recently forgot her card in the money machine with her account still active. The next customer apparently withdrew $100 and walked off with the card. But the man’s conscience apparently caught up with him, because the day after, he turned himself in.

“At first I didn’t know what to think of it,” Kressin said. “And I guess I was angry, but after having thought about it I realize that turning back the card was a gutsy thing to do. That must have been pretty humiliating.

“Actually I’m amazed that the guy really did return it. I don’t think I would have. But then again, I wouldn’t have taken the card in the first place,” she said.

“I wonder who the guy is. I keep replaying my mind to find out, but I just don’t remember having seen anyone. I would like to talk to him, though.”

Kressin said she was in a hurry and that’s why she forgot the card. She also said she wasn’t used to the kind of machine that asks the customer whether they want more transactions.

A representative with the ATM department at First National Bank in Ames said she never heard of any incidents like this before. Obviously money cards do get stolen or lost from time to time, but according to the bank, this doesn’t really present a problem. About 20 seconds after any transaction the money card will be retrieved by the machine. Therefore the person who stole Kressin’s card must have done so immediately after she left, the bank official said.