News.com.au, By Matthew Schulz, Herald Sun March 01, 2011
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| Police said up to 40 ATMs had been hit by the glitch. Picture: Alan Pryke |
- ATM under guard after spitting out free money
- Up to 40 ATMs said to be affected by glitch
- Police warn taking money is committing fraud
A GLITCH bugging Commonwealth Bank has caused ATMs to spill out "thousands" with police forced to guard some machines.
The malfunction is understood to have affected dozens of ATMs in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.
However, CBA has warned that those customers who took advantage of the glitch, which they insist has now been rectified, are unlikely to get away with it.
Commonwealth spokesman Bryan Fitzgerald told 3AW radio this evening that the glitch was caused after an error in system maintenance last night, and confirmed the problem had affected ATMs in Melbourne.
With ATM networks functioning in offline mode, customers were able to overdraw their accounts - withdrawing more money than was actually available to them.
"We will be following up on those customers to get our money back," Mr Fitzgerald said.
He said customers had an obligation to repay any funds withdrawn that is not theirs and reassured all other customers that their money was safe.
Another Commonwealth Bank spokesman told news.com.au that customers would not be charged overdrawn fees but reiterated those customers would have to pay any overdrawn money back.
"The vast majority of customers had normal transactions," he said.
"However a small majority of customers had overdrawn their accounts and we will be contacting them."
The spokesman added that the problem had been rectified by 5pm and that customers weren't able to withdraw thousands at a time and ATMs were not simply spitting out cash.
Police had received numerous reports of cash being dispensed in large amounts.
NSW Detective Superintendent Col Dyson warned it was a criminal offence to keep excess money dispensed from an ATM, and that they must return it to the bank.
"They should also realise that ATM locations are covered extensively by surveillance," he said.
In Sydney, police were called to guard affected machines, including one at a suburban shopping centre which was "very busy" until the problem was noticed.
Late this afternoon, NSW police reported about 40 ATMs operated by a "major bank" were dispensing large amounts of excess cash.
"There were two or three policeman guarding the ATM," Plumpton Fast Photo retail assistant Jancy told the Daily Telegraph.
"We didn't really know what was going on but there were people crowded around the machine.
"Then the coppers came and stood around while the [service] guy fixed it.
Wizzers Hair Design manager Keven said: "A lot of people came to the ATM and it was very busy between 10.30am until just now.
"We saw about two or three police but they couldn't stop the people, they couldn't say 'No don't do that' because who knows what they were getting?," Keven said.
Earlier, the Commonwealth Bank said “routine maintenance” triggered a major glitch still affecting online, electronic and phone banking.
The computer malfunction has prevented online money transfers and BPAY, and is also affecting EFTPOS, ATM and phone banking.
While the problem was first reported this morning, the issue continued to frustrate customers as the day neared close of business.
Banking customers today were unable to transfer money from their accounts or pay bills as the bank suggested people with urgent transactions should visit a local bank branch.
CBA spokesman Steve Batten said it was investigating the problem which had occurred last night during “routine database maintenance”.
Mr Batten said full banking services were expected to resume this afternoon.
In the meantime, affected services included funds transfer through NetBank, CommSee Bpay and phone banking channels.
Some EFTPOS and ATMs were also affected, he said.
“The CBA understands the potential impact these matters can have on our customers and apologises for the inconvenience,” Mr Batten said.
The bank said its NetBank system was still online, but also reported that scheduled payments due today would be delayed until “later today”.
In a statement, the bank urged customers to “bear with us while we investigate and resolve this issue”.
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