Money machine error leads to endless flow of free cash

The National Post (Canada) ^ | 1.16.2003 | NationalPost.com

[Semper911]

Money machine error leads to endless flow of free cash. Then the police came.  

Nick Britten The Daily Telegraph

Thursday, January 16, 2003

A British financial institution lost more than $2.5-million after a computer error on its cash machines allowed customers to withdraw unlimited amounts of money.

As word spread about the giveaway at the building society -- a sort of credit union -- lineups formed outside some of the machines and the blunder went undiscovered for five days, allowing people to return up to 20 times and take thousands of pounds in illegal withdrawals.

When police caught up with one family that had taken out $335,000, they found the family had bought an Alfa Romeo sports car and booked airplane tickets to Jamaica.

"Standing in front of one of these cash machines must have been like being a schoolboy in a sweet shop," said Neil Williams, a defence lawyer representing some of the people charged with taking money.

"It was impossible to resist taking more and more. It was rather like water from a tap. They only had to put the card in the machine and out the money would come."

"They got excited and that was it. It got spread around by word of mouth," said Detective Inspector Dave Churchill, one of the investigators in the case.

The free payouts started last year when new security software was installed on 54 Coventry Building Society cash machines.

The software allowed people to take out any amount of money they wanted without keying in the correct PIN number. The only limitation was the thickness of the wad of money that would pass through the society's payout slot.

This week 12 people who took money from the society appeared in court after being traced through a combination of electronic records and security cameras.

"It was a tremendous temptation for many and many got away with it. Those who are here admitted their part while others have got away with it," said Christopher Jones, another lawyer.

One woman, Catherine Crosdale, saw her husband and daughter jailed for 15 months and her son for 12 months after admitting conspiracy to steal.

"We are just an ordinary, hard-working family who thought it would be some extra cash. Who wouldn't have done it?" said Mrs. Crosdale, who has also admitted to taking money and is awaiting sentence.

Four other people were jailed and five received community service and compensation orders. More people are due to appear and police say that 30 have still to be caught.

The lost money would be made up by the Coventry Building Society's insurers and compensation paid by defendants.

[Semper911]

What pathetic excuses by the lawyers. And how did people thing they wouldn't get caught? (...except apparently some got clean away.)

[Brad’s Gramma]

Who could ignore granny?

[Brad’s Gramma]

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[dep]

the $2.5 million was $2.5 million canadian, or $6.25 in real money.

dep

[aruanan]

"We are just an ordinary, hard-working family who thought it would be some extra cash. Who wouldn't have done it?" said Mrs. Crosdale, who has also admitted to taking money and is awaiting sentence.

We are just an ordinary, hard-working dishonest family.

[Chad Fairbanks]

"We are just an ordinary, hard-working family who thought it would be some extra cash. Who wouldn't have done it?" said Mrs. Crosdale, who has also admitted to taking money and is awaiting sentence.

Who? I'll tell you who, you thief - anyone with a shred of decency and honesty, THAT'S who...

[kerosene]

And how did people thing they wouldn't get caught? (...except apparently some got clean away.)

Maybe in this life.

[mvpel]

I would be REALLY curious to know who the consultants were.

[GovernmentShrinker]

And how much cash THEY made off with.

[southernnorthcarolina]

Well, let's see here.

We have a Canadian tabloid reporting on a story reported by a British tabloid.

We are required to believe that this scheme went on for five days.

We are required to believe that dozens of people joined in, not one of them with a shred of honesty (this in arguably the most law-abiding country on the planet), and more amazing still, not one of them having any concern that they might be caught.

We are required to believe that the evil-doers, rather than keep the secret, told others.

We are required to believe that employees of the credit union kept replenishing the cash (it doesn't materialize out of thin air, you know) heedless of the extraordinary depletion.

Sorry, I'm not buying this one. Get back to me when the story shows up in the Financial Times.

[Eva]

That's the same excuse that I heard from parents when the son of two local school teachers got arrested for dealing and smuggling drugs across the border. "He just wanted some extra money, it's not anything any other kid wouldn't do."

[ricpic]

Critical thinkers always spoil the fun.

[Dan Day]

We are required to believe that employees of the credit union kept replenishing the cash (it doesn't materialize out of thin air, you know) heedless of the extraordinary depletion.

Yeah, that's the first thing that struck me too.

Presuming they work like American ATMs, which have a $20 bill as their highest denomination, $2.5 million in bogus withdrawals equals over ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND individual greenbacks dispensed.

A stack of 30 bills is about an inch thick. 100,000 bills would be a stack TWO HUNDRED AND SEVENTY SEVEN FEET TALL. What did they use to load those ATMs, forklifts?

[Bobibutu]

This does not seem true for several reasons.

1) A PIN has nothing to do with how much money you can take out, it just identifies you as being authorized to access a particular bank account.

2) I know of no ATM that stacks the withdrawn currency inside the ATM and then sends it all out at one time.

3) No ATM holds 2.5 M, the ATM has to be filled and every ATM owner in the world keeps track of how often an ATM needs to be filled - if the frequency goes up to several times a day, as it would to dispense 2.5M both the owner and the delivery company would take notice.

4) The punishment does not fit the crime.

But, if you do not know the industry it makes an appealing story.

[AdamSelene235]

Money machine error leads to endless flow of free cash

I thought this was an article about the Federal Reserve.

[ChemistCat]

We are just an ordinary, hard-working family who thought it would be some extra cash. Who wouldn't have done it?" said Mrs. Crosdale, who has also admitted to taking money and is awaiting sentence.

I WOULDN'T!!!! My KIDS wouldn't! They know we will be answering to a higher authority by and by--one who cannot be deceived! It scares the heck out of me that that many people could KNOW about it and just steal and steal and steal--and nobody said a word!!!!!! Is there no decency left anymore? If you'd steal you'd murder, IMHO, if you could get away with it. Murder, rape, whatever.

[ChemistCat]

I wish that made me feel a little better. You're right, of course.

[freepeeee]

ummm . . . the National Post in Canada is not a tabloid. It's one of the more conservative papers this side of the Atlantic. Frum, Steyn and many other conservative writers are regular contributers to this paper.

[southernnorthcarolina]

ummm . . . the National Post in Canada is not a tabloid. It's one of the more conservative papers this side of the Atlantic. Frum, Steyn and many other conservative writers are regular contributers to this paper.

Fair enough. But conservatism and tabloidism (I confess I have no idea whether the National Post is literally a tabloid in terms of the size of its pages) are not necessarily mutually exclusive. I'm a big fan of Steyn, and I agree that the paper leans to the right. But it also is a bit on the lightweight side -- to me, sort of a conservative USAToday with a heavy dose of "news of the weird." Nothing wrong with that. But I take it with a grain of salt.