Teen charges $23 quadrillion at drug store

[charlie]

The embarrassingly-named VISA BUXX card is a debit card for teenagers: parents get reports, control, etc. My daughter has one.

My lectures about financial responsibility appear to have failed: yesterday she charged $23,148,855,308,184,500.00 at the drug store. That's 2,000 times more than the national debt, which is a paltry 11 trillion.

The ever-vigilant folks at VISA added a $20 "negative balance fee," and have suspended the card.

When I called, they said that there was a "system problem," and that the "help desk was working on it."

http://consumerist.com/5314246/unruly-teen-charges-23-quadrillion-at-drugstore

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NEW YORK (CNN) -- A technical snafu left some Visa prepaid cardholders stunned and horrified Monday to see a $23,148,855,308,184,500 charge on their statements.

Josh Muszynski noticed the 17-digit charge while making a routine balance inquiry.

That's about 2,007 times the size of the national debt.

Josh Muszynski, 22, of Manchester, New Hampshire, was one Visa customer aghast to find the 17-digit charge on his bill. Adding insult to injury, he had also been hit with a $15 overdraft fee.

He noticed that his debt exceeded the world GDP while making a routine balance inquiry on his online Bank of America account. According to his statement, he had spent the profound sum in one pop at a nearby Mobil gas station -- his regular stop for Camel cigarettes.

"Very, very panicked," he jumped in his car and sped to the station...

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/07/15/quadrillion.dollar.glitch/index.html

[rpannier]

1. If Congress doesn't do something to reel in drug companies

That's about what we'll all be paying for prescription meds

[jimshoes]

2. this inflation is getting

out of hand.

[krispos42]

3. This story is probably common...

...in Zimbabwe!

[zbdent]

4. sounds like the charge was read from the card account number

[reflection]

5. Ah. Good one! I wondered how that happened.

Your theory makes sense.