Three of five privately operated ATMs at Australia's Skilled Park football facility went on the fritz during a game Saturday night, triggering complaints from fans who were unable to withdraw cash from the machines.
A report at goldcoast.com said that customers were able to initiate transactions at the ATMs, and funds were shown as having been withdrawn from their accounts, but the money was not dispensed.
The machines' owner and operator, Rod Collins of Complete ATM Services, said the wireless Internet system at the stadium, which powered the machines, crashed as a result of a data overload caused by fans uploading pictures from their smartphones to their Facebook accounts.
"The first thing the ATM does is withdraws the money from the account and then sends a signal to the machine to dispense the cash," Collins told goldcoast.com. "We don't use wireless unless we have to but Skilled Park won't let us use phone lines."
The article said that fans could expect to have funds credited back to their accounts by Tuesday or Wednesday of this week.
For more on this topic, visit the wireless research center.
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