ATM: $37,000 Payout Shocks Homeless Man
A homeless man had the shock of his life when an ATM error left him with $37,000, cash in hand!
The unidentified man, who was attempting to withdraw just $140 from his personal bank account, ended up taking out out a lot more from the TD Bank Branch in South Portland, Maine. The only reason he was caught exploiting the bank error was that a woman waiting behind him in line called the police to complain that he was taking too long.
A police statement confirms that when officers arrived at the scene, they found the man stuffing the piles of cash into a shopping bag. Lt. Todd Bernard of the South Portland Police Department told reporters that the man repeatedly requested from the ATM amounts of $700 using the “cash advance” feature, even though he only had $100 in his account.
Nevertheless, the ATM honored his request, not once, but over 53 times before the police arrived at the scene to intervene.
Usually the “cash advance” feature only works for people with pre-approved credit with their bank. However, in this case, a “code error” allowed the transactions to take place and the money to be dispensed.
Lt. Bernard told reporters that: “It is illegal. He is taking money that doesn’t belong to him, and the bank at this point has elected not to prosecute, although the case is still under investigation. That ATM has been taken out of service and is being checked out to determine why it malfunctioned.”
Fortunately for the homeless man, the bank has said that it doesn’t intend to prosecute him as they are accepting that the actual error was on their side. Nevertheless, it raises some very good moral questions as to whether the man was in the right or the wrong.
What would you do? There you are, homeless, down to your last $100, and all of a sudden a “code error” results in stacks of cash being dispensed to you by your bank. You know it’s illegal and that the bank will most likely catch up with you at some point, but is the temptation overwhelming, or would you come clean and call the police? Let us know you thoughts on the matter in the comments feed below.
