Imagine opening up your savings account expecting to lament yourself over your lack of funds only to be shocked by 12 zeros in your favor. That was the case of an unnamed Citigroup customer who was mistakenly credited $81 trillion back in 2024. Not even the combined wealth of Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Jeff Bezos could compare to their newfound extreme wealth.
Videos by Wide Open Country
It was all an illusion of course. However, a couple of Citigroup's employees were unable to notice the trillionaire credit at the time. As reported by the Financial Times, the "lucky" Citigroup customer was supposed to receive only $280. Instead, an internal mistake credited the customer almost 290 billion times that amount.
According to the outlet, the botched transfer took place in April 2024. Reportedly, a payments employee and a second official failed to accurately check the transfer before it was approved. Fortunately for Citigroup, a third employee caught the near-economic crisis mistake just 90 minutes before the trillionaire payment was posted. For reference, Citigroup Inc. is currently valued at $151.21 billion.
Hours later, the customer received the correct amount of $280. No longer were they receiving funds equal to shy of three times the GDP of the United States. Citigroup, meanwhile, reported the near miss to the Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. A "near miss" in banking refers to when a financial error such as a transfer is made but rectified before a loss occurs.
Citigroup Addressed Their Mistake
Addressing the incident, Citigroup shared a statement with PEOPLE. They confirmed that they were able to detect the error before an insurmountable loss occurred.
"Despite the fact that a payment of this size could not actually have been executed, our detective controls promptly identified the inputting error between two Citi ledger accounts, and we reversed the entry," the statement reads. "Our preventative controls would have also stopped any funds leaving the bank."
"While there was no impact to the bank or our client, the episode underscores our continued efforts to continue eliminating manual processes and automating controls through our Transformation."
