Google Mistakenly Paid €250,000 to an Employee and Ignored Multiple Messages to Return the Money
In recent weeks, Google has faced contrasting situations regarding stability and calm. On one hand, the company has been embroiled in a U.S. investigation into whether it holds an illegal monopoly. On the other hand, the launch of the Pixel 9 has been a huge success, with user interest continuing to grow. Amid these developments, however, a peculiar story has emerged.
As reported by Genbeta, Sam Curry, a Google employee who works on identifying and fixing security vulnerabilities, unexpectedly received a payment of €250,000 from the company due to an error. Rather than keeping the money, Curry acted honestly and informed Google of the mistake. Surprisingly, Google ignored Curry’s multiple messages for a long time and never explained the reason for the payment.
Twitter to the Rescue
In a surprising twist, Curry finally got Google’s attention through X (formerly Twitter). After receiving no response from Google, Curry posted about the situation on social media, where the story quickly went viral. This prompted Google to take notice, and the company established communication with Curry. After the situation gained traction online, Google processed the refund, and Curry successfully returned the €250,000 mistakenly deposited into his account.
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To date, the reason behind the large payment remains unknown. Most theories suggest it was a human error during an administrative process, likely a mistake in inputting the amount. However, Google has not acknowledged or explained the transaction. Fortunately for Curry, the situation ended happily, with the funds returned to Google and no legal repercussions for him.