Whenever we use an automated teller machine (ATM), be it for withdrawing or depositing cash, we usually trust it not to ‘eat’ our money or card.
Unfortunately, such things can and do happen from time to time.
Source: Giovanni Gagliardi on Unsplash
Recently, a woman in Malaysia fell ‘victim’ to this glitch when she tried to deposit money into an ATM.
However, instead of sending the money to the intended account, the machine ‘swallowed’ about S$1,600 (RM4,950) due to a malfunction.
To make matters worse, there was no receipt provided to prove the money was ever deposited.
According to Sin Chew Daily, the woman, whose surname is Leong, had visited a shopping mall in Sarawak at 1.10pm on 12 Jun to help her husband deposit S$3,142 (RM9,900) into a company account.
Due to the large sum, she made two separate deposits of about S$1,600 (RM4,950) each.
For illustration purposes only
While she managed to put in the first S$1,600, the machine malfunctioned when she tried depositing the remaining half.
As a result, the ATM ‘swallowed’ her money. She also did not receive a receipt indicating whether the transaction was successful or not.
As the incident took place on a Sunday, no bank officers were on duty.
After waiting at the ATM for 15 minutes, Ms Leong informed her husband about the incident and they called the bank’s customer service hotline.
During the call, the customer service representative said the bank would take note of the case and that it would need five to seven days to investigate the matter.
A week later, Ms Leong’s husband called to follow up on the matter.
Strangely, the bank told them that it could not disclose any details and that only the account holder had the right to know where the funds went.
Determined to get to the bottom of the matter, Ms Leong contacted the account holder, who confirmed that they only received the initial deposit of S$1,600.
With that, the couple filed another complaint with the bank on 28 Jun.
As of Monday (4 Jul), they have yet to receive further updates from the bank. The account holder also asserted that they have not received the funds.
Hoping to speed up the investigation, Ms Leong lodged a police report on Tuesday (5 Jul).
In her report, she asked the bank to check its security footage as well as if there are any records of overpayment or someone else withdrawing the money from the ATM that day.
This is truly an unfortunate incident, especially since what Ms Leong lost wasn’t exactly chump change.
We hope the police and bank will help her to get to the bottom of the matter and that she will be able to get her money back.
In the meantime, we’re going to be very, very careful the next time we ever need to deposit a lot of cash into an ATM.
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Featured image adapted from Terminal Bersepadu Selatan for illustration purposes only.
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