Broken ATM Doubles Withdrawals (While Supplies Last) - Gizmodo Comments

Broken ATM Doubles Withdrawals (While Supplies Last)

FizzyPopMan — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 18:38:17 EDT

Hmm, having read the article, it appears that the ATM in question is operated by a company called Payzone. They locate these machines in (usually smaller) stores then charge you a fee (usually about £1-£2) to withdraw money. I suppose they're offering convenience, but I personally refuse to pay to withdraw my own cash!

FizzyPopMan

Broken ATM Doubles Withdrawals (While Supplies Last)

Diesel08 — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 18:09:00 EDT

FYI, this happened to me a couple years ago in a convenience store in Pennsylvania. I went in during my lunch break, then again several hours later after work. They must have lost thousands! Nobody said a word to me and I never heard from anybody about it. Nothing from the store, their bank, my bank, or the police. No news stories about it either as far as I know.

Diesel08

Broken ATM Doubles Withdrawals (While Supplies Last)

Eruanno — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 07:43:08 EDT

So what you do here is you go for £300, get £600, go put it in your bank. Rinse and repeat. MONEYS!

Supposing the ATM doesn't actually register you getting £600 instead of £300 on your account.

...Er, well it seemed like the perfect crime in MY mind anyway!

Eruanno

Broken ATM Doubles Withdrawals (While Supplies Last)

odysseus — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 07:03:15 EDT

This happens all the time. What happens is some dumb under-paid security guard or bank teller loads the wrong note bin, say puts the 20's in the 10's bin (or sets the switch wrong). Funny how you never hear about the times it's the other way around :-)

It's always human error, and the bank always gets its money back as (newsflash dummies) they have a full audit trail of which bins the notes were issued from and your bank account details to take it all out from.

odysseus

Broken ATM Doubles Withdrawals (While Supplies Last)

twreckx — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 06:24:31 EDT

I used to work at a bank, so ATM misdispenses will eventually be traced back to the customer and they will have the full amount deducted. Pisses people off to no end when they realise that. What might make it a bit tough is that in the UK you can use any bank's ATM with no surcharge, so you're more likely to see cards from several other banks as well.

twreckx

Broken ATM Doubles Withdrawals (While Supplies Last)

suburb — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 03:46:15 EDT

This happened in La Verne, CA a few years back and a friend of mine and all his buddies headed over to the machine 2 or 3 days straight and got the max out, tuned their 300/day into 600 and never got asked a thing about it. I unfortunately was not willing to test the consequences and did not participate, however did watch the ATM spit out all that $$$.

suburb

Broken ATM Doubles Withdrawals (While Supplies Last)

Nurow — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 01:15:31 EDT

yeah the only way to get away with this is to do it with a prepaid debit card. They're not able to be traced as long as you pay cash for them.

Nurow

Broken ATM Doubles Withdrawals (While Supplies Last)

Toban — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 23:37:52 EDT

I work for an ATM company. I accidently set the ATM to give out tens instead of twenties... so everybody got double until it was empty... somehow I didn't get fired. It emptied in less than 24 hours. However, because we had the records, we got most of the money back.

Toban

Broken ATM Doubles Withdrawals (While Supplies Last)

yogibimbi — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 21:34:46 EDT

hmmm, zero times two is still zero. What am I doing wrong here?

yogibimbi

Broken ATM Doubles Withdrawals (While Supplies Last)

discounteggroll — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 21:12:38 EDT

). yeah, that post deserved the grammatical correctness

discounteggroll

Broken ATM Doubles Withdrawals (While Supplies Last)

discounteggroll — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 21:11:18 EDT

@strider_mt2k: Yeeah they'll let anybody in this club...eventually. ;)
I resent that (and have been since being rejected the gold star sticker since kindergarten). I wanna star! I wanna star! Nobody said anything about a "no asian(s) club" afer Chen joined (BLam doesn't count-He's mother goose

discounteggroll

Broken ATM Doubles Withdrawals (While Supplies Last)

strider_mt2k — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 20:49:18 EDT

@nutbastard: Yeeah they'll let anybody in this club...eventually. ;)

strider_mt2k

Broken ATM Doubles Withdrawals (While Supplies Last)

coiagp — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 20:41:42 EDT

Regardless of whether or not its a crime as some people have suggested (personally I am not 100% convinced it is a criminal offence, unless there is a statute I am unaware of, although it definitely is a civil wrong doing). Under English (or Scots) law you can't keep the money. As a general principle of contract law it comes under the heading of 'Unjustified Enrichment,' and the bank would get their money back. This is why you can't keep the cash if the bank accidentally deposited a million bucks in your account.

Most legal systems have an unjustified enrichment rule, no man should be enriched by the loss of another without justification etc.

coiagp

Broken ATM Doubles Withdrawals (While Supplies Last)

bez_online — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 19:40:30 EDT

@Xenobiologista: Good point (even though I did notice the fruit machine reels)! I guess the 25¢ label right in the middle of the picture would have been an easier call.

BTW, it's a fruit machine in England, not a slot machine - sorry to nit-pick :)

bez_online

Broken ATM Doubles Withdrawals (While Supplies Last)

thebear91 — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 19:31:35 EDT

It is illegal and everyone got their picture taken.

thebear91

Broken ATM Doubles Withdrawals (While Supplies Last)

Warbrain — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 19:30:32 EDT

@innout3x3:

I've had it happen. I went to an ATM in the building where I work and wanted 20 dollars but got 40 instead. Never considered going back to try again because I was content with an additional 20 bucks.

Warbrain

Broken ATM Doubles Withdrawals (While Supplies Last)

Triborough — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 19:27:52 EDT

Many years ago, in another country, got an extra $20 out of an ATM, but it was an old one stuck to another.

Triborough

Broken ATM Doubles Withdrawals (While Supplies Last)

Xenobiologista — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 19:17:57 EDT

@bez_online : You noticed that, but somehow you didn't notice that it's a joke picture showing the three wheels of a slot machine on the ATM's screen?

Sorry to nitpick =)

Xenobiologista

Broken ATM Doubles Withdrawals (While Supplies Last)

Hiphopopotamus — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 19:16:18 EDT

@innout3x3: It does. [home.hamptonroads.com]

Hiphopopotamus

Broken ATM Doubles Withdrawals (While Supplies Last)

robbywil — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 18:57:46 EDT

A 1:1 match on your cash withdrawals in England makes the cost of living just about reasonable.

robbywil

Broken ATM Doubles Withdrawals (While Supplies Last)

Theophilus P. Wildebeeste — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 18:43:26 EDT

Let me correct my previous comment,

If there is a crime committed, it is probably in using the ATM in the knowledge that it is dispensing more cash than is requested without intention of returning the overage to the institution.

Theophilus P. Wildebeeste

Broken ATM Doubles Withdrawals (While Supplies Last)

PiOnMe — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 18:43:09 EDT

I was using an ATM inside a bank and the machine next to me started to release cash, it was only 40 bucks, but since i was inside the building decided to take it to the security guard, he just put it in his pocket.... HMMmmm

PiOnMe

Broken ATM Doubles Withdrawals (While Supplies Last)

bez_online — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 18:41:09 EDT

I had a situation once where I tried to take $300 out of a BofA ATM in L.A. and it only gave me $160 - luckily it only debited my account for $160, not $300.

BTW, is it just me, or did anyone else notice that in the picture the bill in the ATM looks suspiciously like the back of a $20 bill, but the malfunctioning ATM was located in England. Minor detail - sorry to nit-pick.

bez_online

Broken ATM Doubles Withdrawals (While Supplies Last)

dantaylor08 — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 18:38:37 EDT

man all those brits are dirty little thieves!

dantaylor08

Broken ATM Doubles Withdrawals (While Supplies Last)

Theophilus P. Wildebeeste — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 18:38:20 EDT

@Bash_: It's a crime not to return the amount of money above that which was requested.

Theophilus P. Wildebeeste

Broken ATM Doubles Withdrawals (While Supplies Last)

Theophilus P. Wildebeeste — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 18:36:59 EDT

Police said those who had benefited could face charges but only if the operator complained.

Correction:

Police said those who had benefited could face charges but only if the withdrawer has insufficient funds to cover the true amount of cash dispensed.

Theophilus P. Wildebeeste

Broken ATM Doubles Withdrawals (While Supplies Last)

robbywil — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 18:35:42 EDT

This is probably Bernanke's next plan to fuel consumer spending.

robbywil

Broken ATM Doubles Withdrawals (While Supplies Last)

Bash_ — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 18:33:48 EDT

how can it be a crime to withdraw money? It's not like you'd be hacking the machine!?

Bash_

Broken ATM Doubles Withdrawals (While Supplies Last)

Bill_G — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 18:18:17 EDT

It wasn't atm error. It was the teller who refills the cash loaded the wrong currency in the tray.

Bill_G

Broken ATM Doubles Withdrawals (While Supplies Last)

nagumi — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 18:16:52 EDT

Dammit... I'm a dog sitter. I wish I was in jolly old England.

nagumi

Broken ATM Doubles Withdrawals (While Supplies Last)

Bolero — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 18:16:32 EDT

Do people really not know that the bank can simply look at a record of transactions and see who withdrew the maximum that day? Probably with video footage of them jumping around in joy?

Bolero

Broken ATM Doubles Withdrawals (While Supplies Last)

dysfunctional — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 18:16:17 EDT

I had this happen to me once. A week later the bank sent me a letter to apologize for the technical glitch. The letter also informed me that the actual amount that was paid out would be taken from my account.

So unless this bank has 19th century ATM's, the clients are paying this out of their own pocket.

dysfunctional

Broken ATM Doubles Withdrawals (While Supplies Last)

discounteggroll — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 18:16:03 EDT

@nutbastard:
I think he got the comment content slave position

discounteggroll

Broken ATM Doubles Withdrawals (While Supplies Last)

discounteggroll — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 18:13:42 EDT

I bet this is making front page over at SD/FW

discounteggroll

Broken ATM Doubles Withdrawals (While Supplies Last)

nutbastard — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 18:11:32 EDT

@faabshaam:
hey, noticed you got a star there... congrats, even if your getting a star devalues my star by way of inflation!

nutbastard

Broken ATM Doubles Withdrawals (While Supplies Last)

Mandatory_Field — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 18:10:32 EDT

@innout3x3: It HAS happened, IIRC. The bank went after everybody to get their money back....

Mandatory_Field

Broken ATM Doubles Withdrawals (While Supplies Last)

nutbastard — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 18:09:48 EDT

The best comment i saw on this story when it broke was:

If you're going to steal, why not just go up and take? At times the line was 100 people long, imagine that, queuing up in an orderly fashion to steal! How awefully British!

nutbastard

Broken ATM Doubles Withdrawals (While Supplies Last)

innout3x3 — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 18:07:49 EDT

Blast! Why doesn't that happen in the states?

innout3x3

Broken ATM Doubles Withdrawals (While Supplies Last)

faabshaam — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 18:07:05 EDT

Whoever designed this specific ATM (TYME machine if you live in Wisconsin) must've helped create the voting machines in Florida, since the states population seemed to also double in size.

faabshaam