'A young woman from California comes back from partying and discovers a 50 billion dollar debt in her account: "What do I do now?"'

Maddie McGivern, a young woman from California, went out for a drink with her friends. She took out her credit card and paid the bill. So far, everything was normal. Just another weekend in her life. The surprise came when, while heading home, the young woman took her mobile phone out of her bag to check the balance of her bank account. And she discovered a completely surreal figure: she had a debt of $49,999,999,697. 

Owing nearly 50 billion dollars after a night out was not in her plans, so Maddie McGivern, completely bewildered and alarmed, immediately called her bank. After a few moments of tension and confusion, the institution cleared up her doubt: it was a massive technical error. "I swear to God it shows a debt of 49 billion dollars. What do I do now?", she said in a video posted on social media.

The images clearly show how her bank account has an astronomical negative balance and also indicate that she has $76.28 available. Savings that seem insufficient to deal with a debt more typical of a large company's accounting than the cost of a few drinks in a pub. Her friends cannot hold back their laughter while Maddie McGivern shows her mobile phone to the camera.

Maddie McGivern, a viral story with 14 million views

This episode, which took place in June 2021, has become a small classic in the little-told history of the Internet, going viral again from time to time across different social media platforms. The video by her friend @gabefloress is still available on TikTok and has amassed more than 14 million views and over two million likes.

The comments reacted with surprise and humor to this situation: "I love how she says 49 billion and doesn't care about the remaining 999,999,697". Obviously, the bank solved the problem without any additional complications for Maddie McGivern, beyond the initial scare.