For a very short time, 56-year-old Chris Reynolds from Delaware County became the richest person of all time after a mistake by PayPal employees. Soon, after the online payment service corrected its oversight, the man was again left with his original capital.
One day in July 2013, an American opened his Paypal account and discovered that 92 quadrillion dollars ($92,233,720,368,547,800) had been credited to his account, which for a short time made him the richest person and the only quadrillionaire on Earth. Ladbible writes about it.
Various news outlets that learned of the event were quick to point out that the Delaware County resident was at the time a million times richer than telecommunications magnate Carlos Slim, whose net worth was a whopping $67 billion.
“It’s a curious thing. I don’t know, maybe someone was having fun,” Reynolds told CNN recalling this moment.
The man was extremely surprised and a little shocked, as the most he ever made through PayPal was “just over $1,000” from selling vintage BMW tires on eBay.
PayPal employees quickly realized their mistake and fixed the problem
[+–]
Photo: PayPal
Unfortunately, like all good things come to an end, PayPal staff quickly realized their mistake and corrected the problem, apologizing to Chris for the inconvenience caused.
In an interview with the Philadelphia Daily News, which originally published the incredible story, Reynolds said seeing the numbers on his account made him feel like “a million bucks.” The news outlet then asked Chris what he would do with the money if he could save it, to which the man replied that he would pay off the national debt and buy the Phillies (a baseball franchise) if he could negotiate a good price.
Focus previously wrote that a British millionaire sold a “men’s entertainment cave” for just £1. 70-year-old accountant Graham Wildin built a 10,000 sq. feet to his home in 2014. This was done by a man without proper building permission from the city council, which led to protracted litigation.
It was also reported that in Canada, a family won a lottery jackpot but were unable to claim their prize because they were five days late in presenting their ticket. The organizers of the lottery failed to break the rules and give the prize to the winners.
