A MUM went from having almost nothing in her bank account to becoming a millionaire overnight.
Joanne Simpson went to bed one night with £62 to her name, and woke up the next morning with £2 million in her bank account.
She had no idea where the money had come from, as she hadn’t won the lottery and none of her relatives had passed away.
Upon calling her bank, the 35-year-old was told that someone named John Mainland had made a single transaction, transferring the enormous sum into her bank account.
The bank said that since the man had authorised the payment, they didn’t see any reason for concern so Joanne thought the cash was hers to do as she pleased.
A month later, she’d already spent a large chunk of the money.
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“I was a millionaire, I was young, I didn’t wait for anything.”
But one day, she was contacted by the bank and informed that the man who sent her the money had sent it by mistake, thinking he was sending it to a relative.
John’s relative had exactly the same name as Joanne, and even the same middle name, Hayley.
He had somehow managed to get hold of her bank details, and had only just realised that he had sent the money to the wrong person.
After realising the mistake, Joanne had to pay the money back.
However, since she had already spent a large chunk of it, she had to give up her car and a percentage of her salary each month to pay it back.
“And now I’m walking around in my son’s body warmer and dirty crocs,” she said.
“I had to kiss goodbye to Louis Vuitton handbags, say see you later to Christian Dior.”
Joanne’s TikTok video, which was posted under the username @joannehayley891, has racked up over 1.1 million views.
One user said: “I would have withdrawn all of the money and disappeared.”
Another chimed in: “I would have taken the money and moved to America.”
A third person said: “This happened to me! It wasn’t that much but a fair few grand.”
“I really feel for you!”, a fourth one said.
What to do if this happens to you?
- Check the name, date, time and reference of the transaction to see if any of the details are familiar to you
- Check with any joint account holders to see if they recognise the transaction
- Contact your bank and explain the situation to them. You could get into trouble for just leaving the money in your account, and are expected to take reasonable steps to return the money.
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