Computer Glitch Leads to Ethiopian Bank Losing More Than $40 Million

By Tim Binnall

A bank in Ethiopia lost a whopping $42 million due to a computer glitch wherein people were able to withdraw massive sums of money far beyond what they actually had in their accounts. The odd incident reportedly unfolded early Saturday morning when it was discovered that the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia was experiencing the peculiar technical error. Word of the weird withdrawal bug quickly spread like wildfire, particularly among the country's college students, who flocked to ATMs to cash in on the computer glitch that took several hours to fix.

All told, the error led to a staggering $42 million in funds being withdrawn from the bank, which was forced to issue a statement assuring customers that the incident was caused by a mishap during "maintenance and inspection activities" rather than being the result of a cyber attack. As one might imagine, they have now set about trying to recoup the missing money by promising that they will not press charges against those who took advantage of the glitch, provided that they return the money.