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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."

15 of 544 comments (clear)

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

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

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

    So what was the minimum payment on that?

    --
    Well, it has never been successfully tested.
  3. 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.
  4. 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?

  5. 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
  6. 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!
  7. 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.

  8. 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
  9. 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...

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

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

  11. 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.

  12. 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.

  13. 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?
  14. Re:meh by BryanL · · Score: 5, Funny

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