A volunteer firefighter in Indiana got quite the surprise when he attempted to withdraw money from his account after receiving his first coronavirus relief payment from the federal government.
Charles Calvin with the New Chicago Fire Department said on Sunday he went to a Family Express in Hobart to withdraw $800 to pay his rent, but when he looked at his receipt, he was shocked to find that his account showed a balance of $8.2 million.
Calvin, 45, was forced to take out $200 at a time from the ATM, and thought the balance was a fluke. But three withdrawals later and his account still showed he was a multi-millionaire.
"I said, 'There's no way in the world this could be happening,'" he told NBC 5. "So I asked the gas station attendant, she came over and I asked her, 'Have you guys been having problems with your machine?'"
The attendant said no issues had been reported and the machine had been used multiple times throughout the day.
"I showed her the receipt and she looks at the receipt, she looks at me, looks back at the receipt," he said. "She said, 'You have this much money in your account?' I said, 'No, I am poor. I'm over here trying to get money out so I can pay my rent."
Calvin took his $800 and left, but decided to call a friend who is a police officer in the area.
"When he looked at it he goes, 'Holy crap you've got 8,200,000?' I'm like, 'No man, I don't have that kind of money in my account. He goes, 'Well don't touch it. If it is in there don't touch it. Call your bank Monday morning."
Come Monday, that's just what Calvin did. But his bank said his balance was only showing $13, not $8.2 million.
"I went the next day and I did the same thing and I put my card in and again it came up $8.2 million," he said.
So he called his captain at the fire department, who came and used the same ATM. Only this time, the ATM showed the correct balance for the captain.
"I'm like, 'This is ridiculous' and he's looking at me like, 'Oh you're holding out,'" Calvin said. "I'm a volunteer fireman living paycheck to paycheck just like everybody else is."
Calvin called his bank a second time, only to learn that his latest withdrawals meant he was $100 overdrafted.
"I said, 'That's fine. I can deal with that,'" he said. "I can't afford no $8.2 million overdraft fee."
According the Northwest Indiana Times, the bank believes the error was an issue with the ATM.
Calvin said that while it was nice to feel like a millionaire, even for a short while, he's happy he did the right thing and reported it.
"You would never expect to see an available balance for $8.2 million unless you're Bill Gates or a Rockefeller or something like that," he said. "I wish there was $8.2 million in everybody's accounts."
