German bank employee naps on keyboard, transfers millions

[UrbScotty]

An obviously tired German bank employee fell asleep on his keyboard and accidentally transformed a minor transfer into a 222 million euro ($293 million) order, a court heard on Monday.

The Hessen labour court heard that the man was supposed to transfer just 62.40 euros from a bank account belonging to a retiree, but instead "fell asleep for an instant, while pushing onto the number 2 key on the keyboard" -- making it a huge 222,222,222.22 euro order.

The bank discovered the mistake shortly afterwards and corrected the error.

The case was taken to court by the man's 48-year-old colleague who was fired for letting the mistake slip through when verifying the order.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/mad-mad-world/German-bank-employee-naps-on-keyboard-transfers-millions/articleshow/20538059.cms

[woodsprite]

1. I can definitely see how this can happen.

When I've been sleep deprived, I have done the same thing BUT since I'm a web forms designer, it thankfully didn't have quite the same impact I'd zone out momentarily, and end up with a ton of lines deleted or my last command repeated (.) or "h's" in the doc (I use the Vi editor). If I even think that I've zoned out, I do not write/quit the doc -- or I'll 'undo' my last command to see what I did.

Thankfully those days are happening less and less since the 2 kids and the puppy have grown up.