Casually, discovered a crack in the “system” and, neither dumb nor lazy, he took advantage of her. This allowed him to taste, at least for a while, some of the glamorous life of the rich that is prohibitively expensive for the vast majority of us.

In the words of a famous television presenter we could summarize: “It’s bad, but not that bad”. (End of quote)

The truth is that Dan Saunders, who is 29 years old and is the protagonist of this story, I had a great time for about five months until guilt invaded him and he decided to put an end to it.

But, who takes away the ballad?

The discovery that changed his life

Dan Saunder, I was having a drink in Wangarattahis hometown, three hours north of Melbourne, Australia, with some friends when he found out he was out of money.

Then, as any of us would, he went to an ATM to withdraw cash. what would happen next It was about to change his life forever.

He tells it in an interview with Vice: “I wanted to withdraw my account balance and I kept getting the message ‘balance not available at this time’. I deposited 200 Australian dollars from my credit account into my savings account and the cashier said ‘Transaction cancelled’ And I have returned the card“, it started.

“Because it felt very strange, I tried withdrawing $200 from the savings account to see what would happen. He gave me the money and I went back to the bar and continued drinking” continued the man who, although he didn’t care at the time, sensed that something strange had happened.

Back at the bar Saunders thought it over so when he left he decided to go back to the till. “I decided to try again. I made another transfer of 200 and withdrew the money. Then 500, and then 600, out of curiosity,” he says.

Ed was thrilled: “Between being half-drunk and bored, I kept trying. It was like a magic trick“.

Money, money and more money

The next morning when he woke up with a bit of a hangover the man doubted that what had happened the night before had really happened then he got up and went to see if there was still any money. And yes, there it is.

His eyes widened. “The money was there in the wallet. I called the bank to get the balance on the savings account, which was $2,000 in debt at the time,” he explained.

He continued: “I assumed that there was a certain amount of time between the withdrawals I made at the ATM and my account balance, which meant that the amount spent could be covered by making a bank transfer every night between credit and savings accounts.

“I could “create” the money by making a transfer between one and three in the morning, when I realized that the ATMs were not connected to the network”.

And this is how he explains his discovery: “The first day I spent $2,000, but the second day I wired $4,000 to make sure the balance didn’t go negative. The wire it went into effect overnight and was revoked the next day“.

“But if you preempted that revocation by making another transfer, you could make the system think you had millions. So I went to the bank and they said my balance was one million dollars. The numbers went up and down on the screen like a yoyo.”

rich for 5 months

Saunders’ next five months would be crazy. He organized super-luxury parties, chartered private planes and paid as well tuition fees of your friends.

“It was very exciting knowing that with the press of a button you could increase your balance by millions; I felt like a caveman who had just discovered fire,” he says.

“If you have imagination and money, you can help people achieve their wildest dreams. It’s very addictiveespecially when the money comes out of thin air,” he adds.

Dan found that “when they know you have money, they treat you differently.” “This is how the rich live. People change their mindset and attitude towards you when they find out your account balance.”

The point of no return

Sure, Saunders knew that the money hadn’t been earned in “good law” and that, in anyone with a bit of conscience, it can take its toll. In Dan has undoubtedly weighed, and a lot.

“When you spend most of your life doing the ‘right’ things and suddenly you start doing them ‘wrong’, it’s not easy. I started having panic attacks. Every time her phone rang, I hurried to answer it myself.”

“I was paranoid. I even dreamed about it. One night I had a nightmare that a SWAT team was waiting for me in front of the hotel I was staying at. I remember waking up drenched in sweat and at that moment the doorbell rang. That’s all. It’s over. They’re coming for me, I thought — which would be a relief, really — but it turned out to be the maid, wanting to know if I needed clean towels.”

I think a small part of me wanted it to end, but I was over it. The point of no return. My life had given a radical change. At the bank they asked me if I had been to this or that place. I told them yes and they assured me there was nothing to worry about, that they were just checking it was me. It was very strange, everything.”

The weight was very heavy. The fear was very real. Saunders realized that he could no longer go on. Y one day he stopped making wire transfers. However, she knew they would pick it up at some point.

Please stop me!

A month later, Saunders called the bank and wasn’t surprised by the response. “You are now in the hands of the police and we cannot talk to you. The police will call you, but he got into a very big mess“, they told them.

But things dragged on. Dan tried to continue his life even though it wasn’t easy. He felt that at any moment they would come looking for him. It’s been like this for two years. “I couldn’t get on with my life because somehow I always had the subject on my mind. It’s just, let’s see, Who steals money like this and then does nothing?“.

“I was going to the psychiatrist because I couldn’t take it anymore with the guilt and anxiety. I felt the need to tell someone about it. And the professional made me understand that it was important for me to give up, to be able to clear my conscience and move on.”

“So, in an attempt to work things out, I went to the Herald Sun and other media outlets. They even did a video interview with me. In the end, it took three press articles and an appearance on national television for me to be taken seriously.”

Eventually Dan was arrested and brought to trial where he was found guilty and sent to prison. “I served a year in prison and then they released me after 18 months of community service,” she explained.

Saunders now works at a café where he is a bartender. “I learned that when faced with temptation, it’s easy to forget your principlesbut little by little I’m getting back to normal”, he closed.

And yes, the movie comes

Finally, it was calculated that Dan was able to withdraw A$1.6 million in just five months, the equivalent of almost 1.1 million euros.

The young man told his story through an eight-part podcast that has become a big hit in Australiaso the next step will be a movie.

As published by the Australian newspaper The Westhis story will become a film.

And you, you would have given up