I wonder what I would do if I suddenly discovered a balance of US$92 quadrillion in one of my accounts? That's what happened to US PR consultant Chris Reynolds when he opened his June PayPal statement.

 

It was of course an error which PayPal quickly remedied, agreeing to pay an undisclosed sum to a charity of Mr. Reynold's choice. But it's tempting to wonder if it might have been possible to make a few quick purchases. Perhaps a yacht and a Learjet to whisk you to a new mansion located somewhere with no extradition treaty to the US! 

 

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/07/17/tech/paypal-error/index.html

As somebody who's recently had his account debited to the tune of around £500 ($750) by a thief unknown who either did it via the well-known ATM route or via hacking into an on-line transaction, I find this really pathetic. With such a ridiculous amount of money at stake it becomes a media circus. That makes me wonder just how many smaller (well you can't easily go bigger, surely, can you?) ups and downs occur in the average day around the world without attracting any notice whatsoever. My guess would be millions! Millions of people either credited or debited by an extra dollar or so, but with a tiny (dishonest) minority making off with a nice little earner. Might not the odd Lear jet or fancy yacht be financed by such serendipity?