Florida woman Julia Yonkowski has made headlines after she was confused to find that her bank account listed almost $1 billion in funds that weren’t actually there.
Per WFLA, Yonkowski went to the Chase Bank near her home in Largo on Saturday, and when she got a bank receipt to show her balance it listed $999,985,855.94 in her account. "Oh my God, I was horrified. I know most people would think they won the lottery but I was horrified," she explained, adding that she went to the ATM at the bank to take out $20. "When I put in for the $20, the machine came back and said we’ll give you the $20 but that’ll cause an overdraft and you will be charged and I said, ‘Oh just forget it.'"
She first noticed the amount in her account on Saturday, June 19, and she says that she hasn’t touched her account ever since. “I know I’ve read stories about people that took the money or took out money, and then they had to repay it and I wouldn’t do that anyway because it’s not my money," she added. "It kind of scares me because you know with cyber threats. You know I don’t know what to think."
As People reports, Chase Bank was eventually able to clarify the situation, explaining why Yonkowski was unable to withdraw the $20 she actually had. According to the Bank, her late husband was listed as a co-owner on the joint bank account, and the number shown was actually negative and usually shows up when an account has been locked due to potentially suspicious activity. Since banks typically require documentation to allow a joint account to be released to one person, that’s why her account was locked.
Watch an interview with Yonkowski about the situation above.
