Commercial Bank of Ethiopia glitch lets Customers withdraw millions

Ethiopia’s largest commercial bank is trying to retrieve millions of dollars withdrawn by its customers after an incident it described as a systems glitch, The customers discovered early on Saturday that they could take out more cash than they had in their accounts at the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE)…

A cyber attack has been ruled out as the cause of the glitch, More than $40m (£31m) were reportedly withdrawn from the state-owned Commercial Bank of Ethiopia, or transferred to other banks, when customers found out they could take out more cash than they had in their accounts, It took several hours before the institution froze all its transactions.

Witnesses told the BBC some students in university campuses, where most of the withdrawals were made, have since been detained, The student, who attends Jimma University Institute of Technology, said he “did not believe it was true” when his friends told him at around 01:00 local time (22:00 GMT) that it was possible to withdraw large amounts from ATMs, or transfer the money using the bank’s app.

Another student, at Dilla University in southern Ethiopia, said a number of his peers retrieved money from CBE between midnight and 02:00 local time, More than 38 million people hold accounts at CBE, which was established 82 years ago.

Ethiopia’s central bank, which serves as the financial sector’s governing body, released a statement on Sunday saying “a glitch” had occurred during “maintenance and inspection activities”, The statement, however, focused on the interrupted service that occurred after CBE froze all transactions. It did not mention the money withdrawn by customers.