Envelope of Cash Found in Santee

An El Cajon woman won $50 today when she discovered an envelope of cash left by an anonymous philanthropist outside a Santee Wal-Mart store.

The person who has been hiding cash around San Diego County and giving riddle-like clues via Twitter began tweeting last week under the handle "sdcashstash."

By staging the scavenger hunts, he or she joined the HiddenCash Internet phenomenon that started in San Francisco on May 23. It has spread to other major U.S. cities and to other countries.

In most cases, the amount of cash being hidden has been up to $100.

Sdcashstash tweeted a photo of the Wal-Mart storefront shortly after lunchtime and said the money would be outside the store.

CBS8 reported that about two dozen people subsequently converged on the parking lot, and the winner found it under a bench.

The donor reported that a drop would be made in the North County on Tuesday.

Another person leaving money around San Diego is tweeting under "hiddencashsd" and a third uses the handle of "sdcashboss."

The San Francisco donor has dubbed the practice a "social experiment for good." At least some of the recipients of the stashed cash have turned around and spent it on others, including buying food for the homeless, according to published reports.

In addition to announcing plans for a cash drop, sdcashstash also wrote, "Lets buy lunch for any PD-FD or military you see June 2nd!"

—City News Service