Google Pay users get up to Rs 88,000 by accident, company responds

Several Google Pay users were in luck as they received as much as $1,072 (roughly Rs 88,000) on their Google Pay accounts. Many of them took to Reddit to share about the unexpected gift. Users on the /r/GooglePixel subreddit were notified that they were receiving the money for ‘dogfooding the Google Pay remittance experience’.

‘Dogfooding’ is a term that refers to when a company’s employees test a new feature or service before making it available to the public. Reportedly, this is actually an error from Google’s side as it accidentally sent money to random users for “testing” Google Pay features instead of paying their employees who actually tested them. It seems that the issue was caused due to a glitch in the system.

Some users also claimed that they were contacted by Google via email after the amount was credited.

Uhhh, Google Pay seems to just be randomly giving users free money right now.

I just opened Google Pay and saw that I have $46 in “rewards” that I got “for dogfooding the Google Pay Remittance experience.”

What. pic.twitter.com/Epe08Tpsk2

— Mishaal Rahman (@MishaalRahman) April 5, 2023

Although it is unclear how many users have received these accidental credits, the majority of the reported ones seem to have got only a modest amount. Only a few saw their balance increase by over $1,000. In response to the issue, Google informed the elated users that the company would attempt to reverse the payment. However, if the firm is unable to do so, the cash is theirs to keep.

Also Read: Google faces $4.2 billion advertising lawsuit

Such an error by the end of Google is questionable, netizens are curious why Google had sent out these accidental credits and if this issue is limited to Google Pixel users or has it affected other Android devices as well.

Meanwhile, the company has yet not said anything in this matter.