£11M IN SHOCKS AND SHARES
Couple gutted after decimal point error discovered
A HUSBAND and wife thought they had “hit the jackpot” after an IT error led to them receiving £11million in stocks and shares.
Richard Warnock, 56, and 54-year-old Jacqueline, each have an account with global investment company Abrdn that they’ve held for five years. Self-employed builder richard was left shocked when he woke up to find £8.3million had appeared in his account on Wednesday.
There was also £2.5million in his nursery worker wife’s account.
Richard told the record: “For a couple of hours there, I thought this might be real and we’d hit the jackpot.
“It was like winning the EuroMillions. My heart was JacKPoT But it didn’t last racing when I saw the cash. We had already started thinking about how we would spend it.
“At first I did think it must have been a mistake – but my wife Jacqui said her portfolio was up too.
“We started thinking one of our company investments had gone through the roof overnight as is the nature with the stock market and this could be genuine.”
The Glasgow couple, who have two children, had been using their accounts for a self-invested private pension and a stocks & shares ISA.
richard questioned the sum of money at first but when his account balance stayed the same for several hours he believed he had made a windfall overnight.
He contacted his independent financial adviser Acova Wealth Management to cash in – but their millionaire status only lasted for a few hours following the discovery an IT error had caused their funds to soar.
The pair were left gutted after they were told a decimal point had been incorrectly placed on stock.
richard added: “I contacted my financial advisor because we wanted to cash in the profits but I couldn’t get through on the phone.
“When we found out that there had been a mistake, my heart just sank.
“I’d really gotten my hopes up.
“It was such a big return on our investment. We are gutted.”
He added: “We still don’t know how it all really happened.
“Abrdn haven’t been in contact. We were told about the error through our financial advisor.”
An amendment was later issued to the two accounts and they went back to a value of about £500,000.
It is understood the pricing error has affected several clients who hold investment portfolios.
The Daily record has contacted Abrdn for comment.
We’d started to think about how we would spend it
RICHARD WARNOCK BEFORE REALITY HIT HOME