In September 2015, a former Google’s employee Sanmay Ved was exploring Google Domains, Google’s own domain-sales site, when he typed “google.com” into the registration page, and to his shock, the domain showed as “available.” For a single payment of US $12, he clicked “buy.” And for one minute, he owned one of the world’s most visited websites — before the sale was quietly reversed.

Ved got confirmation. He saw the domain in his account, with control over DNS and webmaster tools. Then Google stepped in. Within minutes they canceled the transaction and refunded his $12.

After investigating, Google treated the episode as a security-glitch report. As a reward for exposing the mistake, they paid Ved exactly $6,006.13 — a number chosen intentionally because it seemed to “spell out Google.”

Ved did not keep the money. Instead, he asked that the reward be donated. “I have chosen that the donation be made towards the Art of Living’s education program which runs 404 free schools across 18 states of India, providing free education to more than 39,200 children in the slum, tribal and rural belts where child labor and poverty are widespread. The schools nurture the complete child, including body, mind and spirit,” he said. And for this act, Google then doubled the amount.

Google’s security blog explained: “Our initial financial reward to Sanmay — $6,006.13 — spelled-out Google, numerically (squint a little and you’ll see it!). We then doubled this amount when Sanmay donated his reward to charity.”