The company tried to return the money, but decided not to chase those who had already spent it.
The Google Pay payment service mistakenly transferred money to the accounts of users of its mobile program. The details are revealed by Ars Technica, citing Android researcher Mishaal Rahman.
Many people received from $10 to $1000 as part of Google Pay’s Dogfooding reward program, which in technical terms means internal beta testing of new software. Only Google employees and some testing partners were supposed to receive bonuses for testing the money transfer service, but this time the system failed and the money went to random people.
Later, Google sent out emails to users informing them of the error, which led to “unintentional” crediting of funds. The company said that it would refund the money sent out from bank accounts, but would not demand it from those who had already spent or transferred the unexpected bonus. Analysts have suggested that Google does not want to waste time and resources chasing people because of its own mistake.
“If we were unable to cancel the transfer, you can keep the money. No further action is required,” the statement said.
