This Indian Bought Google.com For Less Than Rs 1,000; What Google Did Next Will Shock You

It may sound impossible today, but in 2015, Google.com — the domain of one of the world’s most powerful tech companies — was briefly bought by an Indian techie for just 12 dollars (around Rs 804 at the time). This strange but true story started with a routine check on Google Domains.

Sanmay Ved, originally from Gujarat and a former Google employee, was casually browsing the Google Domains interface late one night on September 29, 2015. Out of sheer curiosity, he searched for "google.com" — and was stunned to find it listed as available for purchase.

Assuming it was a bug or glitch, Ved added the domain to his cart, expecting the transaction to fail at checkout. But to his amazement, the payment went through, his credit card was charged 12 dollars, and confirmation emails started arriving — making him the official owner of Google.com, even if only briefly.

As soon as the error was discovered, Google promptly reversed the purchase and restored ownership of the domain. The company handled the situation professionally, acknowledging the slip-up and recognizing Ved's responsible actions in reporting the issue.

To thank Ved for his quick reporting, Google awarded him 6,006.13 dollars — a clever number that spells out "Google" when read numerically. At the time, this was equivalent to about Rs 4.07 lakh, a substantial reward for a few unexpected minutes of domain ownership.

Rather than keeping the reward, Ved chose to donate the full amount to an educational charity. The organization, which operates 404 free schools across 18 states in India, supports over 39,200 underprivileged children. Inspired by his gesture, Google matched the donation — doubling the total impact.

This rare incident became a key example in Google's global security rewards program, which encourages individuals to report vulnerabilities. Sanmay Ved’s story proved how a small act of curiosity, when handled responsibly, can lead to big changes — and even bigger goodwill.

(Image credit: SanmayVed/LinkedIn, Tony_DCU/X & Social Media)