Bank glitch lets people draw millions from accounts

A glitch in the system of a bank prompted the account holders to withdraw large sums of money in Ethiopia, BBC reported.

Customers at the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia learned early on Saturday that they could withdraw more money than they had in their accounts.

After learning the same, the account holders at the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia mainly students withdrew more than £31 million.

Long queues were observed outside university ATMs as a result of the news spreading via messaging apps. It was reported that students continued to withdraw cash even after the arrival of the police.

A student who attends Jimma University Institute of Technology told the media representatives that initially he ‘did not think it was true’ when the news surfaced.

Another student of Dilla University said that a number of his friends were able to take more money than they had in their bank accounts out of the ATM between midnight and 2 am local time.

Although police cars have been seen outside Jimma University, the student said that he hardly saw anyone returning the money.

In the meantime, the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia’s branch at Dilla University gathered some money that students had willingly returned. Three varsities issued statements urging students to return the money.

According to the local media, the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia claimed to have frozen the transactions, although it took several hours.

“There have been attempted cyber attacks, but the bank’s cyber security was not compromised,” Commercial Bank of Ethiopia President Abe Sano stated in a news release.

He clarified that the issue arose amid efforts to enhance the banking system, adding that the account holders should not be concerned about their money debited in the bank.