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Finance

Commonwealth ATM glitch 'deliberate'

The Commonwealth Bank has said the glitch that caused its ATMs to spit out cash yesterday was due to deliberate actions it had taken to restore its prior glitch. Opportunists who fraudulently withdrew wads of cash will be forced to pay off the debt.
Written by Darren Pauli, Contributor

The Commonwealth Bank has said the glitch that caused its ATMs to spit out cash yesterday was due to deliberate actions it had taken to restore its prior glitch. Opportunists who fraudulently withdrew wads of cash will be forced to pay off the debt.

ATM spewing cash

(Credit: Declan McCullagh/CNET)

About 40 ATMs across Australia were put into an emergency offline mode by the bank so that customers could withdraw cash while it worked to resolve a maintenance glitch.

"ATMs went into offline stand-in mode to allow customers to transact and withdraw up to their daily limit," Commonwealth Bank spokesperson Bryan Fitzgerald said.

"Some people realised the ATMs were in this offline mode."

He said the bank has a record for every transaction and customers will be pursued to payback any owed money.

Yesterday police charged two men for allegedly withdrawing a fraudulent amount of cash from Commonwealth Bank's ATM, which was in offline mode, in Sydney's west.

A 20-year-old Guildford West man and an 18-year-old Northmead man were arrested at a Merrylands ATM after they were seen exchanging wads of cash. Both were charged with dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception.

The arrests came as hundreds of people were reported to have queued at Commonwealth Bank ATMs across the city as news spread the machines had faulted.

NSW Police said it is investigating reports of similar incidences in surrounding suburbs.

The Guildford West man was refused bail to appear at Fairfield Local Court tomorrow, while the Northmead man will face court on 23 March.

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