Purdue Cash surprising students with hidden money

It’s easy to find deals on the Internet that seem too good to be true.

But posts to Twitter promising hidden cash all over Purdue University’s campus are real — and students have the photos to prove it.

An anonymous good Samaritan created the Purdue Cash Twitter account Sunday and this week began posting clues to a daily cache of hidden money.

“The goal of this project is to spread kindness and add excitement to Purdue’s campus,” the anonymous poster explained in a Tweet Sunday.

A post on Reddit Monday by a user named Purdue Cash encouraged students who find the money to pay it forward.

“Once you find an envelope, the money is yours to keep, however I highly encourage you to use a portion of it to bless someone else!” the user wrote.

Senior Logan Dan was the lucky scavenger on the first evening of the experiment. He posted a picture Monday night of a white envelope with “@PurdueCash” scribbled in permanent marker.

He discovered the envelope five minutes after a clue posted to the account pictured an old, worn piano in the south tower of the Purdue Memorial Union.

“I recognized it almost immediately...” Dan said in an email Friday. “I happened to be in the basement of Stewart (Center) at the time so I got up and half-jogged to the Union and went up to the south tower.”

Later, he posted a photo of himself peering behind two $10 bills. Dan donated half the money to Child’s Play, a charity for children in hospitals and domestic violence shelters.

“Found some money in the South Tower thanks to @PurdueCash!” he wrote in a post Monday night. “I’ll be donating half to @CPCharity because they rock.”

“It was a little surreal and I didn’t know what to expect,” he said. “Everything from me following the account to finding the cash happened in less than an hour or two. I was just excited that I found it.”

The project quickly gained attention and was featured along with Dan’s photos in blog posts by The Washington Post, Vocativ and Buzzfeed.

“I think it’s a great idea and a great way to spread positivity,” he said. “It’s fun and a great mood lifter before spring break, and most college students could use a little bit of extra spending money.”

Junior Carlee Newsome happened to be in the right place at the right time Tuesday night. She subscribed to the account that afternoon, and by 4:43 p.m., a post hinted the day’s cash was hidden in a campus parking garage.

At that time, Newsome had already parked her car in the Third Street garage to attend an origami class hosted by fraternity Phi Sigma Pi. She rushed back to check the 3N Black ramp pictured in the post and soon uncovered $30.

“I started jumping around and yelled out, ‘Oh my gosh, I found it! I found the cash!’ I couldn’t believe it,” she said in an email Thursday. “I started telling random people to follow Purdue Cash on Twitter. I was very jazzed up.”

As the user requested, Newsome said she plans to donate the money she found.

“For right now, I plan to hold onto the cash until someone in need crosses my path,” she said. “I definitely won’t spend the money on myself. I think that everything happens for a reason and that I found the money for a reason. My opportunity to help someone just hasn’t come up yet.”

In the past three days, three more students have recovered a total of $70, including $30 Friday morning, according to the Twitter account.

Friday was shaping up to be even better: The account promised another hidden envelope later in the day.

At any moment there could be a new clue — this time, it’s not too good to be true.