Glitch in Commercial Bank of Ethiopia lets customers withdraw millions

According to a report, the Ethiopia-based bank is scrambling to recoup the large sums of money withdrawn by customers.  

Customers of the bank had discovered that they could take out more cash than they had in their accounts at the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE). Moreover, it is known that the systems failure lasted for several hours over the weekend, as it took several hours for the bank to freeze transactions.

The official announcement also stated that most of the money was withdrawn from CBE by students in the country, as news of the glitch spread across universities mainly through various messaging apps and phone calls. Customers took advantage to make ATM withdrawals and money transfers, making off with more than USD 40 million, according to the BBC. 

Per the official statement, more than 38 million people hold accounts at CBE. According to the bank, a glitch had occurred during maintenance and inspection activities. Officials from the bank stated that the loss incurred was small when compared to the bank's total assets. 

Furthermore, the bank's president assured customers that CBE was not hit by a cyber-attack and that they should not be worried as their personal accounts still remained intact. The bank has assembled a task force as it seeks to recoup the money, with some students on university campuses already detained. The bank has stated that anyone returning money would not be charged with a criminal offence.