A broken ATM in Maine mistakenly doled out $37,000 to a homeless man last week after he attempted to withdraw $140 from the machine, but it required a patient pressing of the cash-advance button.
A woman called police early Thursday to report that a suspicious man was spending too much time at the ATM machine inside the TD Bank in South Portland, Maine. When police arrived around 5:30 a.m., they reportedly found the man
stuffing stacks of bills into a plastic bag, WGME.com reported.
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South Portland police Lt. Todd Bernard said the man used his bank card to withdraw $140 from the ATM and then hit the button for a $760 cash advance, which the machine granted even though he didn’t have enough money in his account. The man, who was not identified, then continued to hit the cash advance button and collect thousands.
A TD spokesperson said the ATM suffered a coding error that caused it to spit out the $37,000.
All of the money was recovered without incident and the man was not charged, WGME.com reported.
"We see folks that try to just take the money and others that will go and give it right to the bank," Doug Johnson, vice president of risk management policy for the American Bankers Association, told WGME.com. "Depending on the circumstances, the bank will decide to press charges or not."
A similar incident happened last year at a PNC ATM on the University of Delaware's campus. The machine malfunctioned and
accidentally dispensed $1,800 to a college student, who ultimately returned the cash.
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