A family momentarily became a billionaire last Saturday when a $ 50 billion deposit made by the bank suddenly appeared in their bank account.
Darren James, who resides in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and his wife noticed the error when they looked at their bank statement.
“It wasn’t a zero or two too many that was added. It is as if someone has fallen asleep on the keyboard! laughs Mr. James in an interview with CNN. I was excited and really surprised. I wondered if it was not a rich uncle who gave it to me. “
But in reality, it was a rather unusual mistake. The financial institution Chase fixed the mistake in the days following the incident, according to Darren James.
“We’re still trying to figure out how the error happened, but we know we’re not the only ones that have happened to it,” he says. What concerns me is whether my account has been compromised. No one contacted us. ”
Chase Bank confirmed the incident to CNN, but said the situation was resolved the day after the events.
“We had technical problems a few weeks ago which impacted a limited number of accounts,” said a spokesperson for the institution.
People who allegedly spent part of the money could be forced to repay the amount, pay fees and even face criminal charges.
In 2019, a couple in Pennsylvania were notably charged with theft after spending most of the $ 120,000 that was accidentally deposited into their account.
But the thought of spending the money never crossed Darren James’ mind.
“Honesty immediately took over. We couldn’t spend that money. We hadn’t won it. It wasn’t ours, ”he says.
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