Costly Glitch! Bank Error Results In More Than 6,000 Customers Losing Thousands Of Dollars In New Zealand

Imagine waking up in the morning and seeing thousands of dollars debited from your account mysteriously. Sounds scary, right? Well, something similar happened to credit card users across New Zealand recently that too at a time when the country has fallen into recession.

Thousands Of Dollars Gone From Accounts Of 6,000 Customers

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Credit card users were shocked to wake up in the morning a couple of days ago to find that they had been charged multiple times for transactions made the night before.

It turns out that a third-party provider experienced a technical error which caused duplicate payments to be made among New Zealand Bank (BNZ) customers who used their cards to pay for goods and services between 10pm and 10.30pm. Around 6,000 customers of the bank have been affected.

The Rock's Morning Rumble host Bryce Casey was among those who got caught out by the glitch, as per a report in 1news, a New Zealand-based media network.

His BNZ account was charged more than 430 times for a $17.25 Uber ride. The deducted amount totalled $7528.25. The radio presenter told that he only realised this morning when his card declined because he had hit his spending limit. He was surprised he wasn't notified about the continuous transaction which went over his limit.

"Bank should have probably sent some sort of message if $5000 - $6000 is getting charged in a row like that," he said. The report mentioned that another customer had $10,000 taken from their account.

What The Bank Has Said

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A BNZ spokesperson was unable to disclose the third-party provider but told 1News it is aware of the issue, the report mentioned. They said: "BNZ is supporting our customers who have been impacted by a technical issue caused by an external credit card service provider.

"The third-party provider has advised us that between 10.00pm and 10.30pm last night they experienced a technical issue which resulted in a number of credit card transactions being duplicated multiple times.

"They have assured us that they are working as quickly as possible to resolve the issue, which we understand has affected customers across a number of banks within New Zealand.

"We apologise to our customers for any inconvenience this may cause."

Also Read: Copy Paste Error By A Bank Employee Leads To ?1.5 Crore Fuss

Another NZ Bank's Customers Affected

nzherald.co.nz

The error has also affected people across a number of banks, including Kiwibank, as per the report. A spokesperson told 1News they are currently working to resolve the error with the third-party provider.

"Approximately 500 Kiwibank customers may have experienced issues using their credit cards this morning due to a vendor technical issue," they said. "We're working with our vendor as a priority and expect to have this resolved as soon as possible. We apologise for any inconvenience."

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