PayPal Quadrillion: Banking Error Temporarily Gives Man $92 Quadrillion
Move over Bill Gates, there's a new rich guy in the neighborhood, and he has a whole lot more than just a few measly billions of dollars. No, we're talking not even talking about trillions in the bank, but rather, quadrillions at his disposal. Almost.
Chris Reynolds of Pennsylvania was just minding his own business this past June when he was suddenly contacted in an e-mail from PayPal to say that there had been a rather larger balance transfer involving his account. Roughly, a $92 quadrillion transfer.
"It's a number you don't see written out very often, even in national finance circles," Reynolds, 56, told the Daily News. "My thought was a) it's a mistake and b) it's a BIG mistake. It was more funny than elating."
The glitch was soon fixed, and Reynolds was not able to capitalize on his new-found wealth in time. Still, he figured that he might still get a laugh out of it after a friend suggested that he post a screenshot of his account to Facebook. It was then that his story went viral.
"People suggested I might have had long lost relations reappear," Reynolds says. "I'm enjoying a brief transit as an Internet meme."
Sure enough, Reynolds said that old acquaintances started pouring out of the woodwork, inquiring into how he had gotten so much money. That being said, Reynolds knows exactly how he would spend the money if he actually had it, and no, it wouldn't be on people who he hasn't talked to in ages.
"I'd want to pay down the US' national debt. That's been really bugging me," Reynolds says. "I'm just a modest man. I would want to buy something for myself -- maybe the Philadelphia Phillies, if I found a good deal. The rest of it, I'd invest, because that's what my father-in-law would want me to do."
PayPal formally apologized for the glitch and even went so far as to make it up to Reynolds. They offered to donate an undisclosed amount of money to a charity of Reynolds choice, which he still hasn't decided on. While that is a nice gesture, it's not quite $92 quadrillion worth of nice.