Coffee Shop's Error Made UK Woman World's "Richest" With Seventeen-Figure Balance

Sophie Downing, a Nottingham, UK, business owner, became the "richest woman" in the world with a staggering £63 quadrillion fortune - but there's a catch. She could spend the massive amount on coffee only at a particular coffee shop. According to the BBC, the 29-year-old received a £10 (approximately $14) gift card for a coffee shop, named 200 Degrees Coffee, as a Christmas present. When she used it to buy a matcha latte, the remaining balance was £63 quadrillion (63 followed by 15 zeros) - an amount that is 100,000 times more than Elon Musk's wealth and 670 times the global economy.

"I thought it was really funny. I've never seen anything like that before," she said as quoted by NottinghamshireLive, further revealing that when she first used the gift card at the coffee shop in Flying Horse Walk on February 12, "The guy at the till was really confused. His face was just like 'What'?"

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The coffee shop later revealed that an administrative error caused the gift card number to be entered instead of the value, resulting in the incorrect balance.

"I'm just enjoying being the richest woman in the world on paper while it lasts," said the BBC. "You don't ever see anything like that happening, so I sent it to my partner, and he thought it was really funny as well."

However, she assured that she has been using the gift card responsibly and hasn't taken advantage of the situation.

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What did the coffee shop say?

"Due to a technical administrative error, the gift card number, rather than the gift card value, was entered into the wrong part of the till," a spokesperson for 200 Degrees said, as quoted.

"As a result, the customer was generated a receipt which suggested they had a rather higher amount of money left on their gift card than they actually did."

"The customer was only charged exactly what they should have been, and after they had completed their purchase, their gift card had exactly the right amount left on it, they just had a receipt which showed a very different amount, which the barista gave them as a souvenir."

"They were then given a correct receipt which showed the true value of the gift card."