Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority
TL; DR
- A bug in Google Pay has sent payments from the company to random accounts by mistake.
- Payments ranged from a few dollars to over $1,000.
- Google fixed the issue and said “The money is yours to keep”.
If you are someone with a Google Pay account, you may want to check your balance now. Google may have given you some free money by mistake.
Google Pay users were surprised by something strange earlier this week. Looks like they got paid from an unexpected source – Google. One of those lucky users was a freelance journalist Mishaal Rahman Those who participated received $46 worth of rewards. According to Rahman, the payment came with a message stating that “Google Pay Remittance is in beta.”
Beta catering refers to a process where employees test a pre-release version of software offered to them by their company. In exchange, the company gives them money to participate in the test. As a result, this money should have gone only to Google employees.
Rahman was not the only person receiving payment. Reddit threads on both the Google Pay and Google Pixel subreddits were full of users who claimed to have received money ranging from a few dollars to hundreds of dollars. One user even claims to have received a deposit of over $1,000.
It looks like there might have been an app bug or some kind of mix-up that resulted in unexpected payments. On April 6, Rahman shared this official message sent by Google.
You received this email because an accidental cash credit has been deposited into your Google Pay account. The issue has since been resolved and the credit has been reversed where possible. If we can reverse the credit, it has already been reflected in your account activity. If we cannot reverse the credit, the money is yours to keep. No more actions needed. We apologize for any inconvenience.
What this means is that if you spend the money or transfer it before Google can get it back, you will keep the money. Google will not charge your account for a refund.
Were you one of the lucky users to get a boost? Let us know in the comments below.