18-Year-Old Becomes World's Luckiest Multi-Millionaire After Bank's Costly Mistake—At Least Temporarily

Dane Gillespie, a teenager from Belfast, Northern Ireland, thought he became an instant millionaire after a deposited check from his grandmother cleared.

No, he did not win the lottery, nor did his grandmother, who gave him a check of £8,900 – which amounts to roughly $11,533.24.

When Dane woke up on Wednesday morning, he discovered that Nationwide bank inadvertently added a few more zeros to his account, inflating his total to £8.9 million, or $10,154,588.50.

Like any teenager would be in this scenario, he was ecstatic over the free money.

Without considering the inevitability that the bank would reverse their oversight as quickly as they made it, Gillespie began planning his dream purchase of a Porsche with his temporary wealth.

His mother Caroline Gillespie told Belfast Live how shocked she was after being shown a screenshot of the massive accumulation of money.

"We couldn't believe it. My son thought he was a millionaire for a few hours."

" … My husband messaged me with the photograph of his bank account details. It took me a wee while to click."

Caroline had to snap her son back to reality.

"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'."

Though it was short-lived, Dane could say he was, technically at one point, a millionaire.

"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."

Nationwide fixed the snafu within hours.

The bank spokeswoman shared a statement with the Daily Mail, explaining that Dane wouldn't have had the chance to spend any portion of the money, even if his balance reflected otherwise.

"The customer paid the cheque in at the branch and unfortunately the wrong amount was keyed."

'"he error was noticed straight away and the balance was corrected in a matter of seconds."

"While the amount was shown on his balance, cheques do not clear straight away, so the funds were never in is account."

Here is a screenshot representing both transactions.

@Austynzogs/Twitter

His dream acquisition is going to have to wait.

The spokeswoman added:

"Sadly he may have to wait a little longer to buy the Porsche he wants."

Amateur criminals shared their hypothetical plans.

But like Nationwide said, what Dane saw his his account was inaccurate and that money never existed.

Others admonished the Nationwide for the blunder.

The age-old adage applies here: "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is."