British woman becomes "richer" than Elon Musk Coffee and croissants for £63 quadrillion?

A woman from Nottingham, UK, Sophie Downing, has temporarily become the world’s richest person — though she can only spend her fortune on coffee and croissants, The Mirror reports.

Downing received a coffee shop gift card for Christmas with a balance of around £10. When she used it last week to buy a matcha latte, she discovered the card’s balance had jumped to more than £63 quadrillion. In theory, this made her 100,000 times richer than Elon Musk, the American entrepreneur and founder of SpaceX and Tesla, whose net worth is around $800 billion.

Downing found the situation amusing, saying she had never seen anything like it. A cashier at the 200 Degrees coffee shop was also confused but did not take the card from her. She used it a second time at another location but decided not to try again.

She suggested that the staff may have scanned the barcode incorrectly. While she would like to receive a replacement card, the coffee chain has not yet contacted her.

By Khagan Isayev