A bartender who spent $1.6 million in four months after receiving “free money” due to a banking error is now revealing exactly what happened in a new YouTube series titled The Glitch.
It all started when Dan Saunders, then 29, tried to check his balance at an ATM while out drinking in his hometown of Wangaratta, Australia, in early 2011. While doing so, he was surprised to find he could withdraw money “far above his balance.”
He eventually discovered he could move money from his credit account to his savings account whenever the system was “down” for an hour each night for network maintenance, even if the ATM said the transaction failed.
“We leave [the pub], then it starts to rain… I’ve got to walk home… so I’m like, ‘I’ll just stop in at the ATM,'” the Daily Mail reports he said.
“I certainly didn’t need more money at that point, like nothing was open. I couldn’t have gone anywhere. So, out of pure curiosity and probably a bit of beer, I’ve just gone back in to just see what happens here.”
It felt like a dream, but it was very real
The next morning when he woke up he thought that perhaps it all just been a dream. It wasn’t.
“I had about $19,140 or something like that in my hand, and the rain stopped. I was like, ‘Perfect, great,'” he said.
“I put the money in my wallet and, yeah, just went home, went to bed, and I remember distinctly waking up in the morning and I was like, ‘Oh, hell of a dream. That was a weird dream to have.’
“Then I knelt, looked to the side, and on the right-hand side of me was this bedside table and a wallet full of cash. And I was like, ‘Wow, that really did happen.'”
When all was said and done, Saunders had spent the next four-plus months spending “free” $1.6 million he ended up collecting on parties, chartered flights, friends’ college fees, and other extravagant expenses.
Overcome with guilt and anxiety, Saunders eventually outed himself on A Current Affair, which, naturally, attracted the attention of law enforcement and resulted in 111 charges of theft and fraud.
Dan Saunders said the whole thing was as fun as it sounds
In 2020, VICE interviewed Dan Saunders. At one point, he was asked whether “partying like that as fun as everyone thinks?” Guess what? It was.
“Yes. If you have imagination and money, you’re able to help people live their wildest dreams,” he said. “It’s a super addictive fun thing to do, especially when the money literally comes from ‘thin air.’
“People who think you’ve got money, they treat you differently. If a guy realizes you’ve got a lot of money, he’s suddenly going to pitch an idea to make even more money. And then with the opposite sex, it attracts people even more.
“For example, I can remember going to the bank to get some money out and the lady behind the counter saw my balance and her whole attitude just changed. She was suddenly in awe of this guy who had millions of dollars in his bank account.
“That’s what it’s like to be rich. People change their thinking about you and change their demeanor.”
Of course, Saunders didn’t tell his family what he was doing. And some of his friends who knew told him they didn’t want any part of it. But not all.
“Most of them were like, ‘Okay, you’re that kind of guy who likes to ride the wave. I get what you’re doing. We’ll come along for a bit of the ride,’: he recalled. “And others were egging me on as well saying, ‘You can do this, you can do that.'”
After his appearance on national television, police filed an arrest warrant, and he was later given a 12-month prison sentence. In addition, he was ordered to complete 18 months of community service and return $200,000 of the stolen money.