According to British and American media reports on January 1, last Saturday morning, American woman Stephanie Hickman woke up to find that her account in the American SunTrust Bank, which originally contained $150, had suddenly increased by an astonishing $8.8 billion! Since the world's richest man - Mexican telecommunications tycoon Carlos Slim - is worth only $53.5 billion, Stephanie could be said to have become the "world's richest person" overnight.
Even though an extra $8.8 billion appeared in her bank account for no reason, Stephanie did not jump with joy or withdraw cash from the bank account for a spending spree. After all, this increase from $150 to $8.8 billion was obviously not a gift from "Lady Luck". She never believed in such windfalls. Stephanie and her husband immediately called the bank to inform them of the situation, but since it was the weekend and no one was working at the bank, the customer service personnel told them that the bank could do nothing about it temporarily.
Throughout the weekend, Stephanie and her husband dared not touch a single cent in their bank account and could only rely on the loose change they found at home to go shopping at the supermarket. By Monday, the staff of SunTrust Bank went to work and immediately froze Stephanie's account. Despite Stephanie's husband calling at least three bank managers for advice, none of them told them how to resolve this issue. Stephanie said: "All my bank functions have been frozen, including online banking and mobile banking. I'm not saying that the $8.8 billion is mine, but now, I can't even withdraw my own $150."
According to SunTrust Bank, they are addressing this problem so that Stephanie can use her bank account again. According to the bank's spokesperson, the sudden appearance of "huge sums" in customer accounts was apparently caused by a computer malfunction at the bank. They believe that a keyboard '8' key on one of the bank computers got stuck, thus causing this incredible error. Moreover, customers whose accounts suddenly increased by $8.8 billion were not limited to Stephanie alone. A spokesperson for SunTrust Bank said: "We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused by this error."