A teenager became an accidental millionaire overnight when he awoke to find more than £8 million his bank account.
It sounds like the sort of thing that might happen at the very start of a comedy drama film, right before the part where he loses all the money before learning that it isn’t really money that makes us happy, but the friends and memories that we make along the way.
Or something like that, anyway.
This isn’t some schmaltzy low-budget British film though, this really happened to an actual person.
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That person was 18-year-old Dane Gillespie.
The teenager woke up and went to check his bank account, discovering that – completely unbeknownst to him – there was £8.9 million in there.
What would you do with that kind of money at that age?
If you answered ‘straight down to the pub’, you’re almost definitely not alone there.
Thankfully, Dane didn’t do anything rash or stupid.
That’s because – like all things in this wretched ‘real’ world – there’s actually a boring and reasonable explanation for all of this.
It was just a mistake.
You see, Dane had recently paid in a cheque to Nationwide building Society from his gran.
That cheque was for £8,900, which is still a hell of a lot of money to an 18-year-old.
However, once the cheque had been paid into the bank, the building society had misread the details and instead of paying in £8,900, they paid in 1000 times that amount, presumably getting a few decimal places a bit messed up.
After Dane realised what had happened, he shared a screenshot of his bank balance with his mum, Caroline.
Obviously, she was aghast.
“We couldn’t believe it. My son thought he was a millionaire for a few hours,” she explained.
“There was £8.9million in his account on Wednesday morning.
“It’s as well he told us and didn’t go and blow it all.”
It certainly is – he’d only have had to pay it back, most likely.
Caroline continued: “I said to him, ‘That cheque should be cleared in your savings’, and he went, ‘Right’.
“The next minute my husband messaged me with the photograph of his bank account details.
“He’s going to me, ‘I’m gonna order a Porsche’, and I said, ‘Don’t be daft, that’s not our money, we need to get this sorted’.”
In the end, Nationwide quickly realised their mistake and the account balance was rectified to what it should be.
Still, it must be nice to say you were a multi-millionaire for a day, right?
Caroline said: “It was like that for a good few hours,
“For an 18-year-old being a millionaire for the day, he just can’t believe it.
“He just wanted to go out and spend, but if you do then you have to pay it back.
“He thought all his birthdays came at once this morning.
“It’s mad.”
It certainly is.
However, all good things must come to an end.
Perhaps this will light a fire within the lad, sending him on a one-way mission to actual riches?
Only time will tell.
Tom Wood