Citizen bank robbers in the UK make run on faulty ATM

Let's say that you go to your favorite ATM to withdraw money to buy lunch. You insert your card and you enter your PIN number. Then you instruct the machine to withdraw $30 from your account. The machine whines and clicks, and out pops your money. But wait, the machine has dispensed $60 to you, yet the receipt only shows an account debit in the amount of $30! You try the same transaction a second time, with the exact same result. Suddenly, you realize that you have found the electronic golden goose which laid the golden egg.

What would you do? Would you continue to withdraw your funds, taking a double payout with each $30 transaction, until your account balance was exhausted? Would you immediately notify the bank or the authorities, so the ATM could be secured until the problem was solved? Or, would you notify your family and friends about the rouge cash dispensing machine, and assist in what amounts to electronic bank robbery? It appears that bank customers in the UK prefer the latter option.

According to the story at Mail Online, a private contractor made an error when filling an ATM with cash. The result was a five hour run on the machine for free money. The line of eager customers stretched nearly a quarter of a city block. According to the report, hundreds of people took advantage of the unexpected opportunity for personal financial gain.

Personally, I find this fiasco just a bit disheartening, and a sad testament to today's "every man for himself" mentality. However, I can surely understand why so many people would consider this event to be a justifiable windfall. One unidentified British ATM robber at the event was quoted by Mail Online as stating:

''The banks have had enough off us, so it's good to get a little back.'