STRATEGIC PARTNERS
November 17, 1999
WELLINGTON New Zealand -- New Zealand's National Bank is calling on customers who mistakenly received a double dose of dollars at a malfunctioning ATM to give the money back -- but it cannot force them to. According to the New Zealand Press, people flocked to the National Bank ATM after it began giving out double the amount of money customers requested -- without double-debiting their accounts. Police intervened about 15 hours after the ATM started spitting out the extra cash. "There was a bit of a party atmosphere" until police arrived, said Keith Takitimu, a man identified as a Star Mart worker. A National Bank spokeswoman said the money had been loaded incorrectly. The bank plans to write to its own and other banks' customers who used the machine, asking them to confirm how much money they received and to return any extra. The spokeswoman would not say how much money the bank had lost or how many people used the ATM.
