The typos that cost millions

10. Tropical fruit
In 1872 a misplaced comma cost the US Government $2 million. To put that in perspective, today that comma would be worth over $50 million. The tiny error was made in the US Tariff Act, instead of making tropical 'fruit plants' exempt from tariffs, the act used the wording 'fruit, plant'. That rogue comma meant all tropical fruit and plants were free from charge. It took the US Government two years and a fortune in revenue before they corrected the error.

9. Japanese Stock Exchange
The Japanese Mizuho Securities Co, a division of the second largest bank in Japan, lost millions in a typo-related error in 2005. While trying to sell shares of a recruiting agency on the Japanese Stock Exchange, the bank accidentally listed 610,000 shares as costing one yen each instead of each share costing 610,000 yen. The company lost a quarter of a billion dollars in less than a day - which was equivalent to the entire profit it had made that year.

8. Airline tickets
In 2006 Alitalia Airlines accidentally listed business-class flights from Toronto to Cyprus for just $39 instead of $3,900. As many as 2,000 travellers took advantage of the mistake and booked tickets. The airline tried to cancel the tickets, but faced a massive backlash and so decided to honour the mistake at a loss of $7.2 million.

7. The British Government
The British Government accidentally listed Taylor & Sons Ltd., rather than Taylor & Son Ltd. as a failing business approaching liquidation. The extra 's' in the name caused confusion between the failing company and a respected engineering firm. Clients started to back out of deals, suppliers cancelled contracts and creditors withdrew agreements - resulting in the 134-year-old family business going bankrupt with 250 people losing their jobs. It was seen as a direct consequence of the Government's mistake and the company was awarded $14 million in compensation last year.

6. Buying and selling
Between 1993 and 1994, stockbroker Juan Pablo Davila lost $206 million on the stock market, thanks to a simple typo. The broker accidentally added the shares he wanted to sell into the 'buy' column, losing $30 million. Davila spent the next six months on a buying and selling spree risking up to $1.8 billion but losing a total of $206 million. He served three years in prison for his dubious financial actions.

5. Everyone's a winner
In 2007 a car dealership decided to drum up business by sending out 50,000 lottery tickets to locals with just one winner of $1,000. However the marketing company made a mistake and each ticket was valued at $1,000 instead. The company decided not to honour the offer which would have cost them $50 million, instead offering customers a $5 Wal-Mart gift card.

4. Lockheed Martin
When Lockheed Martin agreed to produce a military transport aircraft to an unnamed air force, they signed a specific contract that would require several years manufacturing with the cost of the planes increasing alongside inflation. But the formula that worked out the cost of the aircraft had a typo, a comma that was a decimal place in the wrong direction. This typo cost Lockheed Martin $70 million as they were locked into the contract.

3. Google
Typosquatting is a controversial practice where people register slightly misspelled versions of popular websites to generate hits and revenue and it can be very lucrative. In 2010 researchers found that whenever someone types in the wrong address to go to a website they are normally redirected to a site covered in advertisements. This happens 70 million times a day, costing the correctly spelled domains tons of cash. It's thought that Google supply more than half the ads on these sites, meaning they make an estimated $500 million from the practice.

2. Yellow Pages
In 1988 a Californian travel agency posted an advert in the Yellow Pages for 'Exotic Travel', but unfortunately a typo led to it actually advertising 'erotic travel'. The agency lost 80% of existing customers and gained next to no new business thanks to the ad.

1. NASA
On July 22, 1962, the Mariner 1 space probe exploded shortly after liftoff in one of the most expensive typo related incidents in history. NASA concluded that the omission of a single hyphen in the guidance software had led to a series of false course correction signals - the rocket was then deliberately detonated to prevent it crashing into a populated area. The rocket was worth between $80 and $150 million.