You think all your Christmases have come at once. You go to your
ATM to withdraw $20 and it gives you $200. Which isn't bad as
you only have $25 in your account.
So, can you keep it? After all, you did nothing wrong. It was
the bank's ATM that made the mistake.
Wrong! The only confusion in the law about this is whether you
will be charged with fraud or with theft.
The legal quandary goes back to the 1980s when ATMs were still
relatively new and went berserk, pouring out cash when they were
offline. One case went all the way to the High Court. The judges
ruled for the banks – the only question was which crime
applied. The judges, in their wisdom, determined an ATM is not a
human so it can't give consent to handing over the extra dosh.
That ruled out fraud as ATMs have no minds and so can't be
fooled. Therefore keeping the cash was stealing.
