The British bank Nationwide accidentally turned one of its customers into a multi-millionaire during a late-night incident by suddenly depositing approximately $10.9 million into his account. However, this was a mistake, as the young man in question had originally brought a check for $10,900 to the bank.
Nationwide had, therefore, multiplied the amount by a factor of 1,000, illustrating how quickly a mistake can occur in the traditional financial system.
Dane Gillespie, who was born in Ireland, recently experienced something remarkable with his Nationwide account. On his birthday, he received a check for approximately $10,900, but to his surprise, he noticed a much larger amount had been credited to his account. The bank had accidentally added three extra zeros to his deposit.
Dane’s mother shared the surprising story: “That morning, I told him to ‘put that check into your savings,’ and that’s what he was going to do. But later, I received a message from my husband with a screenshot of Dane’s bank balance. It took me a moment to realize what had happened. Dane even joked, ‘I’m going to order a Porsche,’ but I said, ‘Don’t be silly, that’s not our money; we need to rectify this.'”
Although Dane was initially tempted to spend the money, the family decided to wait patiently. Within a few hours, the bank corrected the balance to the correct amount.
A similar “free money” incident occurred in Ireland last month. A software glitch at the Bank of Ireland, an institution with billions in assets, quickly became known and went viral on the social media platform X. This allowed customers to withdraw money they did not actually possess.
Thanks to this error, users could transfer up to $1,000, even if their balance was insufficient, to digital banking apps like Revolut.