The ATM Glitch That Let an Australian Bartender Spend $1.6 Million Overnight

An Australian man who spent $1.6 million after uncovering a banking loophole has reflected on the lavish spree he went on before guilt finally caught up with him.

Dan Saunders, a bartender from Wangaratta in regional Victoria, discovered the flaw in National Australia Bank’s ATM network late one night in early 2011.

Saunders, then 29, said he came across the glitch after attempting to move $200 from his credit card into a bank account that contained just $3.

Although the ATM displayed a message saying the transfer had failed, the funds still landed in his account.

He soon worked out that during a nightly one-hour maintenance window, when the ATM system went “offline,” he could repeatedly shift what felt like “free money” from his credit account into savings.

Over the following four months, Mr Saunders funded an extravagant lifestyle that included private jets, fine dining, luxury hotels, limousines, champagne and gambling.

He later admitted what he had done to authorities and was ultimately charged with 111 fraud and theft-related offences.

After serving 12 months behind bars, he returned to bartending, earning $22 an hour.

Now a public speaker whose life inspired the 2024 film ‘ATM Boy’, Mr Saunders has reflected on his former life during an episode of SBS Insight which is due to air on Tuesday night.

‘I found a glitch in the NAB system, where I was able to make my account balance look like it had millions of dollars in it,’ he told the stunned studio audience.

‘I could go into the branch and literally ask the teller how much is in my account and they … just let me [withdraw] whatever I wanted to get.

‘It was like discovering fire for the first time. It was extremely addictive.’

Mr Saunders said he used the glitch to spend money on his friends too.

‘The way I describe it is, you get your friends in a circle and you say to them, “Hey what do you want to do today?”‘ he said.

‘Some people wanted a car. Some wanted a horse, which cost about $50,000. 

‘One night, I shouted the whole restaurant dinner and a lady came up to me and said, “Are you the richest guy in Australia?”

‘I said, “Nah, I think I’m seventh”.’

While Mr Saunders experienced a confidence boost thanks to his funds, there were also pitfalls.

‘I had a lot of anxiety around actually doing it as I thought I was going to get caught at any time,’ he said.

‘I had nightmares about [a] SWAT team storming into my home, even though I didn’t have any guns.’

Mr Saunders later contacted NAB to admit his actions.

Three years later, after speaking publicly about the case, he was arrested.

‘They [the bank] said they were going to get me, then nothing happened,’ he said.

‘Eventually, I had to do what I thought was right so I told the media about what happened to get closure.

‘I had lost myself as a person. I didn’t know who I was anymore.’

Mr Saunders spoke to several media outlets, including A Current Affair. In one interview 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 told the program 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. 

Mr Saunders said his 12-month jail stint provided much-needed closure.

‘It felt so good – my brain is a bit different to everyone else’s,’ he said.

He was also sentenced to 18 months of community service and ordered to pay $250,000 compensation to NAB.

Insight: Coming Into Money airs at 8.30pm this Tuesday on SBS or SBS On Demand.