Daniel Saunders jailed after spending $1.6 million he obtained through a secret ATM loophole

AN ATM loophole allowed a Victorian man $1.6m of money that wasn’t his. He embarked on a lifestyle few of us could ever imagine - but then it all went horribly, horribly wrong.

Supplied Editorial

A VICTORIAN man, who lived like a millionaire “and felt like a rock star” after stealing more than a million dollars using a secret ATM loophole, has been jailed.

Daniel Saunders lived a life most of us could only dream of after he discovered the loophole which allowed him access to $1.6 million of National Bank Australia’s money.

The 29-year-old spent four and a half months eating at top restaurants, gambling, hiring prostitutes and flying in private jets.

But that bubble burst and he will now spend the next 12 months in jail after being sentenced on fraud and theft charges.

The insane lifestyle he lived was a long way from the $700 a week he earned from being a barman in Wangaratta.

Late last year he told the Nine Network’s A Current Affair of how his life changed overnight.

“I felt like a rock star, but I probably looked like a fat white Kanye West,” he said.

He told ACA he discovered the loophole while out drinking with friends one night in February 2011.

It was his round and when he went to get drinks he realised he only had $3 in his account so transferred $200 from his credit account.

“It said transaction cancelled, but it worked.”

Daniel Saunders lived a lavish lifestyle after he exposed an ATM security flaw.

On the way home after a heavy night of drinking he transferred and withdrew $500, then another $500 and then $600.

“I went to bed and woke up in the morning and thought I must have dreamt it. It wasn’t a dream, it was in the wallet next to me.”

Saunders took advantage of a loophole in the system which meant the ATM couldn’t record transactions during late-night maintenance but still dispensed cash and the withdrawal would not register on his account. So essentially he was being given free cash

Within weeks he’d transferred $20,000 that wasn’t his even though his card limit was $2000.

Despite his new fortune and Hollywood-style story, things soon went downhill for the recovering problem gambler.

The ATM security loophole has nowe been closed.

“It was just surreal. The whole thing was just crazy. We’d walk into bars and just shout the whole bar,” he told the Herald Sun in 2013.

Bank statements seen by the newspaper revealed by May 2011 he’d accumulated debts of almost $400,000 on his credit and savings accounts, though he estimated the debt was higher.

“I’d stay in $2000-a-night hotel suites and be sh------ myself that the cops were going to burst through the door. “I’ve got an anxiety disorder. Half the time I think I’m going to fall over.”

Initially he felt no guilt, but as time went on he was prepared to face the consequences: “I’ve made my bed. I’m fully prepared to lie in it.”

When he gets out of jail Saunders will still have to serve an 18 month communication corrections order (CCO) upon his release. A CCO is a flexible sentence that can be served in the community after a custodial sentence.

He has also been ordered to pay almost $250,000 in compensation to the National Australia Bank.