As far as I am concerned there's no justification for taking another team's money, ever.
Nothing from what we were seeing on tv showed that they were instructed to keep the money.
If that's the case, they definitely changed the rules a lot without mentioning it to the viewers. A few series ago people were penalized for relatively small things even (not going on foot but taking a taxi instead, or selling some of their belonging to get money after losing it) etc.
And now it's suddenly ok to steal/take money from another team..
That makes no sense to me at all.
Regardless, I understand their competitive nature and how this manifests certain things more during the race, but I can't say I enjoy watching them or would root for them. Too condescending towards the other teams, and indeed rude to the local people - if someone doesn't want to buy something from you there's no reason to be rude to them, for example.