Google accidentally sent thousands of dollars to users and didn’t get it back: who’s lucky

The Google Pay payment service accidentally deposited funds into the accounts of users of its mobile app. The details were revealed by the Ars Technica portal, citing Android system researcher Mishaal Rahman.

Many have earned between $10 and $1,000 in the Google Pay Dogfooding Rewards Program; technically this means internal beta testing of new software. Only Google employees and some test partners were supposed to receive the money transfer test rewards, but this time the system failed and the money went to random people.

Later, Google sent users emails with an error message that resulted in “unintentional” crediting of funds. The company said it will return money sent from bank accounts, but not extort money from those who have already spent it or send an unexpected bonus. Analysts have suggested that Google does not want to waste time and resources chasing people for its own fault.

The message says, “If we can’t cancel the transfer, you can keep the money to yourself. You don’t need to take any further action.”

Last year, hacker Sam Curry accidentally received $250,000 from Google that was not intended for him. An expert investigating software vulnerabilities waited three weeks for a response from the company to refund others. As it turned out, payment was received due to the negligence of the employee.

Earlier, Crypto.com exchange accidentally transferred $10.5 million to a customer instead of $100. The woman was delighted with the sudden wealth and managed to spend a lot of money, until the company realized a mistake and even managed to buy a mansion. But later it had to be sold to return the funds.