Salzburger Sparkasse mistakenly pays students over 120,000 euros

A banking error at a Salzburger Sparkasse branch in the Gnigl district of Salzburg resulted in a significant overpayment to two Georgian students. The students originally intended to withdraw 12,900 euros to demonstrate sufficient financial means for their Austrian residence permit renewals.

Due to what the bank described as a human error, the students were instead handed more than 120,000 euros in cash. One of the students, Giorgi Bolkvadze, did not realize the scale of the mistake until several hours later. Upon discovering the error, the students immediately returned to the branch and handed back the excess funds, which amounted to approximately 108,000 euros.

The bank confirmed the incident and expressed gratitude for the students' cooperative and honest behavior. As a token of appreciation, the bank provided the two students with a bag of gummy bears.