In a surprising incident back in 2015, Sanmay Ved, a former Google employee from Mandvi, Gujarat, momentarily became the owner of the world’s most visited website — Google.com — and that too for just $12.
While browsing Google Domains late at night, Ved was stunned to find that “google.com” appeared available for purchase.
Assuming it was a glitch, he added the domain to his cart — and to his amazement, the transaction went through.
His credit card was charged, and he temporarily gained access to Google’s webmaster tools, confirming he had ownership.
The error was soon identified by Google, and the domain ownership was revoked shortly afterward. However, the tech giant rewarded Ved with $6,006.13 — a symbolic amount that spells "Google" numerically.
When Ved chose to donate the reward to charity, Google doubled the amount.
Ved donated the total sum to a charitable foundation that operates 404 free schools across 18 states in India, serving over 39,200 underprivileged children.
In a LinkedIn post recounting the experience, Ved wrote: “At 1:20 a.m. Eastern Time, I searched for ‘google.com’ on Google Domains and was surprised to see it listed as available. I clicked ‘add to cart,’ got a green checkmark, proceeded to checkout, and to my shock, the transaction went through — my card was charged!”
Google later acknowledged Ved’s responsible disclosure and highlighted the importance of global contributions to its security rewards program.