Man Reunites With Lost Wallet Thanks To Viral TikTok Campaign

Updated September 8, 2021

Considering how many stupid things happen on the internet every day, it's easy to underestimate how powerful it can be when a compelling story spreads far and wide enough.

Granted, those who come together in these occasional moments don't always use their powers for good and it's impossible to predict which person's story will inflame the internet's passions, but it's hard not to be impressed what they can achieve when they put their minds to something.

And both this power and the chaotic way that the internet works were on full display in the case of one TikToker's journey to return a man's lost wallet.

On August 27, TikTok user @senasoup posted the video you see here asking for a man named Gary Lee to DM her after his wallet was discovered at Rockaway Beach in New York City.

As she told Insider, "A whole bunch of us were at the beach and my friend Jimmy found the wallet on the boardwalk and told me about it. He wanted to make sure Gary got his wallet back and as soon as I heard that I said 'let's make a TikTok.'"

But while Lee didn't see this video at the time, a bizarre trend would start around this post that made it impossible to ignore.

But while the lost wallet quickly caught TikTok's attention, many of the responses weren't as helpful as you might think.

Pexels | Laurentiu Robu

That's because the video's comments were soon awash with fake accounts either pretending to be Lee himself or one of his family members.

But while many of them simply used the photo shown on his driver's license as their profile pictures, the more light-hearted accounts edited it with bizarre filters and dog ears and pretended to be either his more obscure relatives or his pets.

As one of these pranksters wrote, "Woof I'm his dog I'll give it to him woof."

But whether they meant to or not, these imposters made sure the story got big enough that "who is Gary Lee" briefly became one of Google's top searches.

And when enough eyes are on a situation, it will eventually reach the right ones. In this case, one of Lee's actual friends somehow stood out from the sea of fake claims and got in touch with @senasoup.

This friend made Lee aware of her video and he soon made a TikTok account of his own to coordinate a meet-up with her.

As for how @senasoup knew this Gary Lee was the real deal, the fact that he could tell her what the address on his ID was and identify what else was in the wallet confirmed it for her.

And so on August 29, she released a follow-up video in which she and her friends returned the wallet to an appreciative Lee.

As the video's caption stated, "He gave us his lucky $100 bill."

While many people would feel pretty uncomfortable about seeing so many strangers pretend to be them, Lee just seemed to find his vast number of imposters funny.

h/t: Insider

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