UK Woman Becomes ‘World’s Richest’ After Coffee Shop Gift Card Glitch Shows Seventeen-Figure Balance
In a quirky twist that quickly went viral, a routine coffee run turned into a viral coffee receipt moment for 29-year-old Sophie Downing from Nottingham, UK. What started as a simple visit to 200 Degrees Coffee with a £10 gift card ended with her being jokingly labelled the “richest woman in the world,” though only on paper.
On February 12, at the café’s Flying Horse Walk branch, Sophie purchased a matcha latte and received a receipt showing her gift card had a remaining balance of £63 quadrillioan astronomical figure that dwarfs the fortunes of billionaires and even surpasses global economic totals. The sum is roughly 100,000 times more than Elon Musk’s net worth, making the moment both surreal and humorous.
Sophie told reporters she found the incident “really funny” and shared the receipt with her partner, both laughing at the absurdity of such a massive balance appearing on a simple coffee gift card. She even joked about being the world’s richest woman for a moment, fully aware that the figure was clearly a technical glitch.
The café later clarified that the extraordinary balance was due to an administrative error: the machine mistakenly recorded the gift card number instead of its actual monetary value. As a result, the printed receipt displayed the enormous sum, although the card’s real balance remained £10. The barista even gave Sophie the erroneous receipt as a souvenir, before providing a corrected one.
Despite the fleeting spike in virtual wealth, Sophie did not attempt to exploit the glitch and continued to use the card normally for purchases. Her good-humoured reaction delighted internet users worldwide and highlighted how simple software or payment system errors can create extraordinary, if entirely fictional, outcomes.
On February 12, at the café’s Flying Horse Walk branch, Sophie purchased a matcha latte and received a receipt showing her gift card had a remaining balance of £63 quadrillioan astronomical figure that dwarfs the fortunes of billionaires and even surpasses global economic totals. The sum is roughly 100,000 times more than Elon Musk’s net worth, making the moment both surreal and humorous.
Sophie told reporters she found the incident “really funny” and shared the receipt with her partner, both laughing at the absurdity of such a massive balance appearing on a simple coffee gift card. She even joked about being the world’s richest woman for a moment, fully aware that the figure was clearly a technical glitch.
The café later clarified that the extraordinary balance was due to an administrative error: the machine mistakenly recorded the gift card number instead of its actual monetary value. As a result, the printed receipt displayed the enormous sum, although the card’s real balance remained £10. The barista even gave Sophie the erroneous receipt as a souvenir, before providing a corrected one.
Despite the fleeting spike in virtual wealth, Sophie did not attempt to exploit the glitch and continued to use the card normally for purchases. Her good-humoured reaction delighted internet users worldwide and highlighted how simple software or payment system errors can create extraordinary, if entirely fictional, outcomes.
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