Plastic money and digital transactions are convenient – you don’t have to carry around lots of cash and you can make payments big and small with the swipe of a card. But the experience turned into a nightmare for an unsuspecting Mysuru-based doctor who was charged for Rs 4 lakh instead of Rs 40 at a toll booth!

According to a Deccan Chronicle report, the doctor was on the way to Mumbai via the Kochi-Mumbai national highway on Saturday when the incident happened.

The man, who could only be identified as Dr Rao by TOI, handed over his debit card to an attendant at the Gudmi toll booth, 18 kilometres from Udupi. He was expecting a message of Rs 40 being debited from his account but imagine his shock when he found that the amount deducted had five zeroes too many.

TOI reports that the attendant who swiped Dr Rao’s card was “groggy”.

The shocked doctor informed the toll gate staff about the discrepancy. However, they refused to acknowledge the error for two hours until the doctor decided to lodge a complaint at a police station in Kota.

Around 1am, the doctor reached the police station, 5 kilometres away from the toll gate and filed a complaint. A head constable accompanied him back to the toll gate and ensured that the officials there acknowledged their mistake.

The toll gate staff agreed to reimburse the extra money they had charged via a cheque. But the doctor said that he wanted cash for the amount: a whopping Rs 3,99,960.

After much back and forth, the officials were able to arrange the required amount in cash with the help of their seniors. The money was handed over to Dr Rao at 4am.