Contains affiliated content. Click here for more information.
An Australian bartender who spent $1.6 million in just four months after exploiting a banking error has told his story in a new YouTube series titled The Glitch.
Dan Saunders, from Wangaratta in Victoria, discovered the technical flaw during a night out at a local pub in early 2011. The fault involved National Australia Bank’s ATM system.
Saunders was 29 when he stumbled upon the loophole. He had attempted to transfer $200 from his credit card into a bank account containing only $3.
Although the ATM reported that the transaction had failed, the money appeared in his account. Saunders soon realised that, during the hour each night when the system went ‘offline’ for network maintenance, he could move funds from his credit card into his savings account.
After making the discovery, he went back to drinking with his friends at the pub. Later that night, he returned to the ATM and tried the same method again.
For the next four months, Saunders lived extravagantly, spending $1.6 million on private jets, luxury hotels, high-end restaurants, limousines, champagne and gambling.
Eventually, guilt and anxiety became overwhelming. He confessed on A Current Affair, prompting police attention and leading to 111 charges connected to fraud and theft.
In The Glitch, the episodes of which are available to Daily Mail readers before public release, Saunders explains how he first uncovered the banking error.
Saunders (left) discovered the ATM loophole while drinking with friends on a night out
He said he initially attempted to transfer money between his savings account and credit card. Despite the machine marking the transaction as ‘cancelled’, he was still able to withdraw cash.
Saunders then rejoined his friends at the pub, continued drinking and later decided to test the ATM once more before heading home.
‘We leave [the pub], then it starts to rain… I’ve got to walk home… so I’m like, “I’ll just stop in at the ATM”,’ he said.
‘I certainly didn’t need more money at that point, like nothing was open. I couldn’t have gone anywhere. So, out of pure curiosity and probably a bit of beer, I’ve just gone back in to just see what happens here.’
Saunders went on to explain how he racked up thousands of dollars across both of his cards.
‘I had about $19,140 or something like that in my hand, and the rain stopped. I was like, “Perfect, great”,’ he said.
‘I put the money in my wallet and, yeah, just went home, went to bed, and I remember distinctly waking up in the morning and I was like, “Oh, hell of a dream. That was a weird dream to have”.
‘Then I knelt, looked to the side, and on the right-hand side of me was this bedside table and a wallet full of cash. And I was like, “Wow, that really did happen”.’
FIND OUT MORE: Albanese government unveils new rules to crack down on ‘visa hopping’ migrants
After making the discovery, Saunders spent the next four months enjoying a lifestyle of private jets, exclusive restaurants, luxury hotels, limousines, champagne and gambling
‘The Glitch’, which attracted more than 2.6 million podcast downloads, has now been adapted into a six-part YouTube series for True Crime Central.
The first instalment launches on October 3 and is available to Daily Mail readers from Friday.
It features exclusive interviews and first-hand accounts from Saunders, his friends and investigative journalist Adam Shand, who broke the story in 2014.
In the first instalment, alongside his account of how he ended up with nearly $20,000 in one night, Saunders said he had been a trustworthy member of society.
‘I’d done probably two things wrong that I was never caught for,’ he told podcast host Jay Walkerden, referencing his decision at five years old to walk out of a shop with a bedspread set that his mother liked.
The other anecdote surrounded his time working at a casino as a young adult and sneaking into a swimming pool.
Saunders has previously reflected on his former life, including one interview during which he said he felt like a ‘white Kanye West’ while spending the money.
‘I’ve never felt more alive than when I was charging on my credit card,’ he said in 2014.
‘With the NAB card, I could be anyone I wanted to be, go anywhere I wanted to go, do anything as long as I had the card in my back pocket. I felt like a king.’
Police issued a warrant for his arrest after he appeared on national television, and he was later sentenced to 12 months’ jail.
He was also ordered to repay $200,000 of what he had taken and carry out 18 months of community service.
‘It felt so good – my brain is a bit different to everyone else’s,’ he said of the punishment.
The first episode of ‘The Glitch’ will launch on True Crime Central on October 3, with subsequent episodes published weekly.