Man who spent £1 million he stole from dodgy cash machine says nobody understood what he actually did wrong

Most people dream of becoming overnight millionaires, but for one Aussie bartender - it actually happened, well kind of.

Dan Saunders' bizarre story began on a night out, when his card declined at a bar after he ordered a round of drinks for his mates.

Eager to continue his night, he took a trip to the nearest hole-the-wall despite having just £3 to his name and tried to withdraw £100 in credit anyway and worry about the consequences later.

Despite the transaction being cancelled by the bank, the money still magically appeared.

Current Affair

Likening the moment to ‘discovering fire’, Dan realised that the glitch occurred at the same ATM between midnight and 1 am - allowing him to withdraw as much as he wanted without getting charged.

Over the next four months, he withdrew what amounted to £1 million and started to live the high life.

Trips on private jets, top-shelf booze and high-end escorts were all purchased with his ill-gotten gains, racking up an insane amount of debt.

This included blowing £50,000 on a trip to an island off the coast of Bali, during which he hired a private jet and brought his friends along for the ride.

He confessed: "I opened the book on anything - people just gave me their dreams and I fulfilled them."

After blowing all the cash, Dan eventually came clean to the bank and told them what he had done.

Three years later he was arrested on 111 counts related to fraud and theft.

He admitted: "The court case was weird because no one actually understood what I did: not the judge, not the prosecutor, it was very odd.”

Current Affair

Dan added: "There were many blank looks; the bank provided minimal evidence so it was really just a case of 'bad Dan and that's it... case closed.

"They even played the Current Affair interview in the courtroom as evidence. It was surreal."

The Aussie man spent a year in prison and was released in May 2016.

In a statement, National Australia Bank told LADbible: "Once the fraudulent transactions were confirmed in May 2011, NAB took immediate action to close the relevant accounts and prevent any further fraudulent transactions by the individual.

"NAB also ensured a similar fraud could not be carried out by any other individual."

Topics: Australia, Money, Weird, World News, Crime

Katherine Sidnell

Katherine is an entertainment journalist with a love of all things nerdy. Starting out writing Doctor Who fan fiction as a kid, she has gone on to interview the likes of Matt Damon, James May and Dua Lipa to name a few. Published in The Sun, The Daily Mail and Evening Standard - she now joins Ladbible as resident nerd in chief.

@ksidnell