Dan Saunders ATM glitch
In 2011, Dan Saunders, an Australian man from Wangaratta found a glitch with National Australia Bank ATMs where he could withdraw an unlimited amount of Australian dollars from the machines. Over the next four and half months Saunders obtained AU$1.6 million, before he outed himself on A ''Current Affair''.
Background
NAB is one of the four largest financial institutions in Australia colloquially referred to as "The Big Four", in terms of market capitalisation, earnings and customers.In 2011, Saunders, a 29-year-old used to work as a bartender in Wangaratta, in Victoria's north-east. He also had a girlfriend who was a religion teacher, but she later left him because of his gambling addiction.
Glitch
Saunders was at the bar at night before needing to get some cash from the ATM machine. When he checked his balance, he saw just 3 dollars in his account, but decided to try and withdraw 100 dollars regardless. Despite an error message, the money was withdrawn.According to Saunders, "I’d been thinking about how odd the whole thing was so I put the card in again and started playing around." He would later figured out that "There was a lag between what the ATM gave me and what my bank balance was, which meant that whatever I spent, I could cover it by doing a simple transfer every night between my credit account and my savings. I could “create” the money by doing a transfer between 1 and 3 in the morning, which is when I realised ATMs go offline."
Within weeks, Dan was fired from his work due to gambling and his girlfriend left him. Saunders would start "living the high life" by spend his money on luxury hotels, private jets, high-end restaurants and clothing. and also give money to friends for college tuition.