• iconNews
  • videos
  • entertainment
  • Home
  • News
    • UK News
    • US News
    • Australia
    • Ireland
    • World News
    • Weird News
    • Viral News
    • Sport
    • Technology
    • Science
    • True Crime
    • Travel
  • Entertainment
    • Celebrity
    • TV & Film
    • Netflix
    • Music
    • Gaming
    • TikTok
  • LAD Originals
    • Say Maaate to a Mate
    • Daily Ladness
    • Lad Files
    • UOKM8?
    • FreeToBe
    • Extinct
    • Citizen Reef
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • UNILAD
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
Snapchat
TikTok
YouTube

LAD Entertainment

YouTube

LAD Stories

Submit Your Content
Man blew £1 million he stole from dodgy cash machine in just four months before handing himself in

Home> News> Crime

Updated 11:58 12 Jul 2024 GMT+1Published 11:38 12 Jul 2024 GMT+1

Man blew £1 million he stole from dodgy cash machine in just four months before handing himself in

Dan Saunders blew the money in just four months

Dominic Smithers

Dominic Smithers

A bloke who managed to nab £1 million from a glitching cash machine spent the lot in four months before turning himself over.

Aussie bloke Dan Saunders was down to his last three quid but made the decision to withdraw £100 from a cash machine and deal with the problems later on.

While his cash machine of choice told him his transaction had been rejected it still spat out the money, and the man figured out that he'd stumbled on quite the glitch.

Advert

Saunders worked out that if he went to the cash machine between midnight and 1am he could take out as much money as he liked and not get charged for it.

Having discovered what seemed like an infinite money hack he paid of his friends student debts, bought himself fancy suits and even paid for trips on private jets and expensive escorts.

Dan Saunders lived the high life... for four months.
A Current Affair

He told the Sun: "Being able to withdraw hundreds with the stroke of a key was a very addictive thing - I felt like a caveman discovering fire."

Eating out at the best restaurants and throwing wild parties began to take their toll, Dan was racking up an incredible amount of debt and had to keep his double life a secret from his family.

Advert

His biggest expense was when he spent £50,000 on chartering a 20-seat private jet, filled with all his mates, to an island near Bali.

"I couldn't tell you exactly where it was, but I didn't need a passport to get there," Dan said.

"We were in the air for about three hours and had filled the plane up with people.

"It was a mix of old friends and new faces. We hired the whole resort, the over-water villas and ate and drank there.

The former barman certainly splashed the cash.
A Current Affair

Advert

"I opened the book on anything - people just gave me their dreams and I fulfilled them."

It wasn't just close friends who benefited from Dan's newfound wealth, he once hired a minibus and picked up strangers from hostels in Melbourne and drove them to an estate in Yarra Valley, where he held crazy pool parties.

But as time went by things quickly went downhill for Dan, who eventually tried gambling to win the money back; overcome with guilt he suffered from vivid nightmares.

He said: "I remember waking up in a pool full of sweat, realising that it was just a dream and then hotel doorbell rang. I was like 'that's it, I'm gone. They're coming to get me', which actually would have been a relief - but it turned out to be the maid asking if I'd like fresh towels."

After blowing all of the cash Dan eventually got in touch with the bank and told them what he had done.

Advert

Dan handed himself in after spending the money.
A Current Affair

Three years later he was arrested on 111 counts related to fraud and theft.

Dan said: "The court case was weird because no one actually understood what I did: not the judge, not the prosecutor, it was very odd.

"There were many blank looks; the bank provided minimal evidence so it was really just a case of 'bad Dan and that's it....case closed.

"They even played the Current Affair interview in the court room as evidence. It was surreal."

Advert

After serving just a year in prison, Dan was released in May 2016.

In a statement, NAB told LADbible: "Once the fraudulent transactions were confirmed in May 2011, NAB took immediate action to close the relevant accounts and prevent any further fraudulent transactions by the individual.

"NAB also ensured a similar fraud could not be carried out by any other individual."

Featured Image Credit: A Current Affair

Topics: Australia, World News, Money

Dominic Smithers
Dominic Smithers

Dominic Smithers is LADbible's Editorial Lead. After graduating from the University of Leeds with a degree in French and History, he went on to write for the Manchester Evening News, the Accrington Observer and the Macclesfield Express. So as you can imagine, he’s spent many a night wondering just how useful that second language has been. But c'est la vie.

X

@SmithersDom

Advert

Advert

Advert

Choose your content:

11 hours ago
12 hours ago
13 hours ago
  • 11 hours ago

    Worrying simulation shows how nuclear bomb really works as global tensions continue to rise

    A simulation of an atomic bomb has highlighted the alarming effects it can cause

    News
  • 11 hours ago

    Explicit 'freak off' text messages between Diddy and ex-girlfriend revealed in court for first time

    Messages between Diddy and his ex-girlfriend Jane after 'freak-offs' were shown to the court

    News
  • 12 hours ago

    Donald Trump shares private message with NATO chief with worrying threat to Europe

    Donald Trump shared a screenshot of a recent conversation with NATO chief Mark Rutte

    News
  • 13 hours ago

    Everything we know about Iran-Israel ceasefire following confusion over it actually being agreed

    The Iran-Israel ceasefire has already been broken, according to Israel's defence minister

    News
  • Woman severely burnt in volcano disaster that killed 22 people shares how she looks five years on
  • Brit mum jailed in Turkey after 'biggest mistake' celebrating boyfriend's Turkey teeth reveals update on heartbreaking situation
  • Expert explains situation as neighbours call for action after man finds £1.2 million house on land he bought in 1991
  • Two orcas 'at risk of death' after being kept in abandoned theme park for five months