INSIDE EDITION "Loses" Wallets Filled with Cash for Honesty Test

If you left something behind in a cab on a bus or a train, do you think you'd get it back?  INSIDE EDITION put taxi drivers, bus drivers and train conductors to the honesty test.

There's nothing worse than realizing that you've lost your wallet. Where did you drop it? Will whoever finds it contact you to return it?

INSIDE EDITION wanted to find out, so we sent Megan Alexander out to conduct the Great INSIDE EDITION Honesty Test.

Alexander hailed cabs, rode buses and took trains. Something millions of people do everyday across the U.S.A.
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Then, INSIDE EDITION did something nobody would ever do. We purposely "lost" 15 wallets during the trips. But before leaving the wallets behind, we placed $100 in each of them, plus a business card so someone could return it.

So the question is, would INSIDE EDITION get the money back?

First, Alexander deliberately left her wallet on the back seat of a taxi cab. Then she asked the driver to let her off at a corner where one of her colleagues from INSIDE EDITION was waiting to hop in the cab. When he got into the cab, he finds the wallet, and then immediately hands it over to the driver.

So how many taxi drivers gave INSIDE EDITION the money back? Out of five cab rides, only one driver returned our wallet.

He took time out to call, leaving a voicemail saying, "Yes, I got your wallet in my yellow cab. If you want, please call me back before 10 o'clock tonight. Thank you very much."

And here's what happened when INSIDE EDITION switched our mode of transportation to trains.

INSIDE EDITION rode five different New York City commuter trains and handed our "lost" wallet to the conductors. Of the five wallets handed in, three were returned. Unfortunately, when INSIDE EDITION picked one of them up, the money was gone.

INSIDE EDITION's next mode of transportation was buses. On this trip, INSIDE EDITION handed the wallet over to the driver. And three days later we were notified our wallet has been found. We got back the wallet, with all our money.

So who was that honest bus driver who turned over our wallet with the money in tact? It was Robert Townes, a 14-year veteran.

"If it happened again, I would do the same thing again," said Townes.

So what did our honesty test show? Of the five taxis, our money was returned only once. On five train rides, we received our money back twice.

INSIDE EDITION's best results were the buses. We received our money back four of the five times.

So hats off to the honest people out there, like Rober Townes.

"You are a good man, Robert," said Alexander.

"Thank you so much," said Townes.

Obviously, Mr. Townes is one of the good guys out there, but on a recent gallup poll, 83% of people ranked nurses highest in terms of people's perceptions of honesty and integrity. Car salesmen were at the bottom of the list with only 6% high ratings. And, for the record, journalists were ranked high by 23%. At least that was more than members of Congress and bankers got.