KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 15 — When a Sarawak clinic manager opened his banking app and discovered a mysterious 10-digit balance, he did what some people might do when faced with an eye-watering number: he asked ChatGPT.
The answer? A whopping RM1 billion.
But for Wan Muhammad Fairus, 33, whose account should have contained less than RM1,000, his unexpected brush with billionaire status was over almost as quickly as it began.
According to Berita Harian, the father of four from Samariang, Kuching, was in his bedroom preparing to make a banking transaction when he stumbled upon the extraordinary balance.
“I was in my bedroom at the time, about to make a transaction. If I’m not mistaken, I had less than RM1,000 in my account. When I opened the app and tapped the icon to reveal my balance, I was shocked to see such an enormous amount of money.
“I was completely stunned! My hands were shaking as I held my phone. I tried logging out and logging back in, but the money was still there.
“It was only after checking my bank statement and asking ChatGPT how much the figure amounted to that I realised it was RM1 billion,” he said with a laugh when contacted by the newspaper.
The bizarre discovery soon caught the attention of social media users after Wan Muhammad Fairus shared a screenshot of his online banking app showing the astonishing 10-digit figure.
But rather than start planning how to spend his newfound fortune, he suspected something was amiss.
Knowing the money was not his, he contacted the bank to find out what had gone wrong.
He said he never considered touching the windfall, aware that spending money mistakenly credited to his account could land him in legal trouble.
“After I contacted the bank, they informed me that there had been a technical problem and temporarily froze my account until 4pm yesterday.
“Everything was resolved after the bank reversed the transaction, and the money originally in my account was unaffected,” he said.
And while his billionaire moment may have been short-lived, there could still be a little something in it for him.
Wan Muhammad Fairus said the bank had mentioned the possibility of a reward, although he had yet to receive anything or find out what it might be.
“The bank also mentioned that they wanted to give me a reward, but I haven’t received anything yet and don’t know what it will be. Perhaps I’ll have to wait for an email notification or an announcement from them,” he said.
For now, his account is back to normal — and his extraordinary billion-ringgit surprise has become a story to tell.