A man who was accidentally paid 286 times his normal salary, resigned and did a disappearing act and is still evading the law. Photo: Pexels
A fake news story about a Mpumalanga teenager who supposedly returned R40 million that she had found to the police in December 2021, had South Africans scratching their heads in disbelief.
However, a similar yet real instance of this happened earlier this year. And, with the cost of living rising steeply globally, every working-class employee wishes to see a bit more money on their pay slips.
But if you received significantly more than your regular wage, would you tell your boss?
One individual who struck it lucky and had to make the ultimate decision this year is a Chilean man, who accidentally got paid 286 times his salary in May.
That’s right, the mysterious man got the pay check of his life. At first, perhaps he thought that this was a cruel joke, but he soon came to his senses and realised that it was indeed real.
He made a promise to his employers to refund the money he was wrongfully paid, but instead chose to resign and flee.
The mysterious man reportedly worked at Consorcio Industrial de Alimentos (Cial), a company that produces cold cuts of meat in the Santiago province of Chile.
The matter boiled down to a clerical error of epic proportions. The business paid him 165,398,851 Chilean pesos (R3.2 million), instead of his usual 500,000 pesos (R9 965.19).
Surprisingly, before he performed his vanishing act the man had informed human resources of the mistake in his payment for the month.
Upon inspecting their payroll records, Cial confirmed that the employee had been given 286 times his wages. Following this, they contacted the employee and asked him to return the money paid in excess.
The man reportedly agreed and said he would go to his local bank to refund the money he received. It seems, however, that he had made different plans and allegedly does not want to come forward with the cash.
Cial waited for the refunded amount, but never got a notification from the bank. They tried to get in contact with the worker again, but the attempts were to no avail.
The employee later contacted the company, reportedly saying that he had overslept and would pay a visit to the bank.
But, on June 2, the man handed in his resignation and has fallen off the face of the earth. Cial has taken legal action against the employee in an attempt to retrieve the money.
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