In 2011 an Aussie bartender discovered a real-life infinite money glitch and went on a bender for the ages before calling time and handing himself in. Now, the whole debacle is being made into a movie.
It was on a night out that Dan Saunders discovered the hack, with an ATM churning out money he transferred from his savings, without actually leaving his savings.
“So on the first day I spent $2,000, but on the second day I transferred $4,000 to make sure my balance didn’t stay negative,” he told Vice back in 2020. “The transfer at night would go through, then reverse one day later. But if you stayed ahead of that reversal by doing another one, you could trick the system into thinking you had millions.”
After using the hack to pocket AU$1.6 million (NZ$1.7 million), he went to the police himself as the heaviness of the guilt was felt more strongly than the luxury lifestyle.
“It was always in the back of my mind so I couldn’t really move on with my life I guess. I mean who takes money like that and then they don’t do anything.”
Dan ended up putting pen to paper as soon as he was out of prison. Not much detail is out on the film adaption, only that his writing is currently being developed for the big screen.
Judging by how Dan describes how incredible it was to live like a gazillionaire for an extended period of time, the movie is gonna be a wild one.
“It’s a super addictive fun thing to do, especially when the money literally comes from “thin air,” he shared.
“People who think you've got money, they treat you differently. If a guy realises you've got a lot of money, he’s suddenly going to pitch an idea to make even more money. And then with the opposite sex, it attracts people even more.”
“I gave the missus $1,000 or so for our joint account, then shouted a few rounds behind the bar. Being able to make your account balance move up into the millions by the stroke of a key was a very addictive thing; I felt like a caveman discovering fire.”
I get that, I once found $70 and a diesel can on the ground.
