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Software Glitch Leads To $23,148,855,308,184,500 Visa Charges

Hmmm2000 writes "Recently several Visa card holders were, um, overcharged for certain purchases, to the tune of $23,148,855,308,184,500.00 on a single charge. The company says it was due to a programming error, and that the problem has been corrected. What is interesting is that the amount charged actually reveals the type of programming error that caused the problem. 23,148,855,308,184,500.00 * 100 (I'm guessing this is how the number is actually stored) is 2314885530818450000. Convert 2314885530818450000 to hexadecimal, and you end up with 20 20 20 20 20 20 12 50. Most C/C++ programmers see the error now ... hex 20 is a space. So spaces were stuffed into a field where binary zero should have been."

28 of 544 comments (clear)

  1. Hey by sonicmerlin · · Score: 5, Funny

    Interesting? You're assuming we're all computer geeks. Wait a minute...

    1. Re:Hey by FatdogHaiku · · Score: 4, Funny

      Welcome, visitor from the past! In this futuristic year of 2009, people who are not nerds are actually USING COMPUTERS! Also, WOMEN are allowed to VOTE and WEAR PANTS.

      Oh sure, but let them vote to wear no pants and the wheels come right off the whole system... Pity... I for one would have welcomed our bottomless female overlords...

      --
      You have the right to remain sentient. If you give up the right to remain sentient, you will be elected to public office
  2. meh by gEvil+(beta) · · Score: 4, Funny

    Meh. What's 23 quadrillion dollars really worth these days?

    --
    This guy's the limit!
    1. Re:meh by Anubis+IV · · Score: 4, Funny

      Not much to us, but think of the children. They'll be paying it off for decades!

    2. Re:meh by owlstead · · Score: 4, Funny

      Yep, I've already got a stack of thousands rolls of toilet paper stacked up here, just in case.

    3. Re:meh by Lunzo · · Score: 4, Funny

      Sensible move that. You've gotta be ready for when the shit hits the fan!

    4. Re:meh by BryanL · · Score: 5, Funny

      If inflation gets that bad, your currency *is* your toilet paper.

    5. Re:meh by drosboro · · Score: 4, Funny

      Exactly. Then we'll use bottle caps for currency.

  3. At least it wasn't EBCDIC by sheepweevil · · Score: 4, Funny

    In EBCDIC, hex 40 is a space. Making this error if EBCDIC was used would make the charge a whopping $4,629,771,061,636,895,312 - 4 quintillion dollars!

    1. Re:At least it wasn't EBCDIC by MightyMartian · · Score: 4, Funny

      Good god, if Visa is still using a Unisys V Series and Burroughs terminals.... I'm switching to Mastercard!

      Excellent. Now please wait while we calculate your interest with an abacus.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    2. Re:At least it wasn't EBCDIC by Sponge+Bath · · Score: 4, Funny

      That would be a really large abacus run by a team of shackled slaves being whipped by a leather clad master.
      So pretty much like any IT shop.

  4. Minimum by Selfbain · · Score: 5, Funny

    So what was the minimum payment on that?

    --
    Well, it has never been successfully tested.
    1. Re:Minimum by pjt33 · · Score: 4, Funny

      $5. But if they've got any sense they'll pay the whole thing off straight away to avoid the interest.

  5. Not an error by ArsonSmith · · Score: 5, Funny

    This is how Obama is paying for health care.

    --
    Paying taxes to buy civilization is like paying a hooker to buy love.
  6. So what's the big deal? by hyades1 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Isn't that about the cost of a couple of packs of smokes and a bag of chips at one of those gas station stores? If he filled up the truck, too...well, that would just about account for it.

    Dude should shut up and pay what he owes.

    --
    I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
    1. Re:So what's the big deal? by Ant+P. · · Score: 5, Funny

      The "sin" tax on those smokes must have been part of the new anti-smoking bill.

      Wait... does that mean this is a sin tax error?

  7. Sensationalist article by Xoltri · · Score: 5, Funny

    He also felt a stab of fear that he had saddled all his unborn grandchildren -- and their grandchildren -- with a lifetime of debt. "Down the generational line, nobody would have any money."

    Give me a break.

    --
    -Xoltri
  8. I can hear the radio ads now by IGnatius+T+Foobar · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Do you owe $23 quadrillion or more on your credit cards? Well I'm about to tell you a secret that the credit card companies don't want you to know. You can settle your debt for pennies on the dollar and get out of debt fast!"

    --
    Tired of FB/Google censorship? Visit UNCENSORED!
    1. Re:I can hear the radio ads now by nizo · · Score: 4, Funny

      Actually calling up one of these companies and having them pull up your balance would be awesome.

  9. Been there by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I must've put a decimal point in the wrong place or something. I always do that. I always mess up some mundane detail.

  10. Re:The Sad Thing... by geekoid · · Score: 5, Funny

    Anything more then "Huh, what an odd error" and you really need to check your reality.

    On the plus side you might be able to leverage:
    Hey, if Visa lends me 23 quintillion dollar, surely I'm good for another 100 billion.

    --
    The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
  11. reassuring... by Dahamma · · Score: 4, Funny

    It's good to know their system is able to handle $23 quadrillion charges, now I just need to get them to raise my limit a bit.

  12. Re:It's a Trap! by oatworm · · Score: 4, Funny

    Our credit score cannot repel debt of that magnitude!

  13. My question... by T-Bucket · · Score: 5, Funny

    Does he still get the airline miles for that one? I mean, even at 1 mile per dollar spent.... He can now book a first class ticket to mars...

  14. Visa Rewards? by WTSane · · Score: 5, Funny

    I hope it was on one of the cards that gives him 1% cash back.

  15. Re:stack garbage by nizo · · Score: 5, Funny

    Oh please... if the person on the phone knew anything about programming, they wouldn't be working the phones, they would be coding their apps like the guys who got promoted from answering the phones last week.

  16. Sounds like Red Dwarf by Ainu · · Score: 5, Funny

    Holly: Busy, Dave?
    Lister: Well, yeah. I am, actually.
    Holly: Oh, then you won't want to know about the two super-lightspeed
                    fighters that are tracking us.
    Lister: What?!
    Holly: I'll leave you to your bubble blowing, mate.
    Lister: No, Hol, come on, come on.
    Holly: They're from Earth.
    Lister: Three million years away?
    Holly: They're from the NorWEB federation.
    Lister: What's that?
    Holly: The North Western Electricity Board. They want you, Dave.
    Lister: Me? Why? What for?
    Holly: For your crimes against humanity.
    Lister: You what!
    Holly: It seems when you left Earth three million years ago, you
                    left two half-eaten German sausages on a plate in your
                    kitchen.
    Lister: Did I?
    Holly: You know what happens to sausages left unattended for
                    three million years?
    Lister: Yeah. They go all mouldy.
    Holly: Your sausages, Dave, now cover seven-eighths of the Earth's
                    surface. Also you left seventeen pounds, fifty pence in a
                    bank account. Thanks to compound interest you now own
                    ninety-eight percent of all the world's wealth, but since
                    you've hoarded it for three million years nobody's got any
                    money except for you and NorWEB.
    Lister: Why NorWEB?
    Holly: You left a light on in the bathroom. I've got a final demand
                    here for one hundred and eighty billion pounds.
    Lister: A hundred and eighty billion pounds! You're kidding!
    Holly: (wearing Groucho Marx disguise) April fool.
    Lister: But it's not April.
    Holly: Yeah, I know, but I could hardly wait six months with a red-hot
                    jape like that under my belt.

  17. Re:Yeeeaaaaahh... by HTH+NE1 · · Score: 5, Funny

    I had a roommate who had a calling card that had rolled over to maxint minutes remaining. He checked the balance on a speakerphone to prove it to me.

    --
    Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?