Bank mistakenly deposits Euro 155 million ($175 million) into the accounts of 75,000 clients on Christmas day
Banks are unlikely to just give out money to their clients for no reason and it is also highly unlikely that you wake up on Christmas morning to discover that you have inherited a large sum of money from an elderly, distant aunt. So, what would we make of an sudden, incredible and dramatic increase in the balance on our current bank account? 99% of the time, this would be an error. And so it was, that a stunning mistake like this was made by the Santander bank which, on the morning of December 25th, accidentally credited the amout of Euros 155 million ($ 175 million) to the accounts of some 75,000 people. Unfortunately for these people, the bank wasn't giving them a Christmas gift!
via The Times
We all would like to have more money so that we can do more in life, but if you don't work really hard or if you don't win the lottery, it is unlikely that you will have much success achieving this. But for seventy-five thousand people, it must been seen as a stroke of luck when, on the morning of December 25th, they found themselves with huge amounts of money credited to their bank accounts. The beneficiaries were normal people or companies who were connected to the Santander bank. During the normal process of crediting these companies and people, something must have gone wrong. In error, some transfers were repeated two, three ... four times!
All of this took place in the UK, where it is illegal to hold on to money that has been mistakenly credited to an account. This means that if any of the "lucky" beneficiaries had spent part of the credited amount, they would have had to return it immediately and without reservation.
It must not be pleasant to see an unexpected windfall snatched from under your nose but, on the other hand, those deposits should never have been put into those bank accounts anyway. The bank, of course, was quick to apologize to its customers, but whoever had spent any of the money is now forced to return it. It is not the first time that a mistake like this has happened, but what is certain is that when you realize that you have received a large sum of money, it is not worth exploiting it until you are sure it is legal and legitimate!
