Woman becomes millionaire for a day, gets $37M in account after banking error

Ruth Balloon wanted to believe it was a Christmas miracle, but it turned out to be a clerical error by the bank, which the woman and her husband found out subsequently.

A clerical error by her bank made a North Texas woman a millionaire for a day.

KTVT-TV reports that when Dallas resident Ruth Balloon checked her bank account earlier this week, it had some extra money in it, an extra $37 million to be exact.

Balloon had wanted to believe “someone really gifted us with that $37 million” but she knew it was too good to be true.

Her husband called their bank, LegacyTexas, which informed the couple the extra money wasn’t a Christmas miracle but a mistake. The bank apologized and took the money back.

The bank told the television in a statement that even if Balloon had not caught the error, it would have been spotted and corrected. The bank said the manual entry error that resulted in the mistake has been addressed.