Auckland woman mistakenly paid $12 million by Inland Revenue

An Auckland woman got a huge shock when she found an extra $12 million in her bank account. 

Inland Revenue admits it accidentally overpaid her with cash meant for another customer. 

The unintended recipient has now found she is unable to access her own money. 

Savana Taihia started to suspect something was wrong when a routine visit to the bank turned into what she says was an interrogation. 

"They kept asking me, was I expecting funds from IRD - and how much?" she told Newshub. 

She was expecting a tax rebate - and thought she'd just received $12,000 dollars. 

But the bank had news for her.

"They were like: 'Well you've got 12 million in your account'."

Joy turned to shock as she realised she'd mis-counted the zeros on her bank statement.   

She quickly rang her cousin.   

"I was like 'faaaaar. How can they... that's not.. that's not simple! That's so much money'," Doniele said. 

IRD refused to be interviewed, but in statement admits the $12 million overpayment is their mistake. 

They say it was a case of human error, and the money has now been pulled from Savana's account and paid into the right one.

And they say they've tightened their processes to stop it happening again.

But because she was expecting some money from IRD, Savana has already used a thousand dollars to pay bills, and gave another thousand dollars to her struggling parents.

Her mother has just left her job to care for her father who is facing heart surgery.  

"She gave in her job to help my Dad. Just gave it over for that," Savana said. 

Savana is upset because she says ANZ is asking her to re-pay that money - and she can't. ANZ wouldn't answer questions about the case, citing customer privacy.

Her account has also been frozen - so right now she can't get any cash out or use her cards.

All she wants is a personal apology and explanation. 

Newshub.