WHEN TECHNOLOGY WORKS

Australians played a new version of knock and run yesterday but nobody in the Commonwealth Bank could see the fun side, writes Mick Cartonne.

It started like a small peaceful protest but soon got right out of control. That's one way of summing up the people's response to the technical fault Australia's biggest bank had to have on Tuesday.

A fault (I prefer to call it a refund) in the technology which operates Commonwealth Bank cash machines allowed customers to withdraw more than their account balance.

News of the glitch spread quickly and callers to a Sydney talkradio station reported long queues in Villawood, Glebe, Chatswood and Macquarie Park with people attempting to take advantage of the situation at the expense of the CBA's shareholders and management. Geez, I wonder why.

For many this was a fantasy come true and one too hard to resist taking advantage of.

Finally after years of being on the recieving end of excessive charges, higher-than-normal interest rates for loans and opening hours convenient for dole bludgers not workers, this was a win for the good guys; the little Aussie battlers.

Some actually thought there was a new fiscal policy in town called "free cash" (or an uncapped carbon copy of the government's "stimulus package")

Another conspiracy doing the rounds was that this was proof that the new People's Parliament in NSW was really working.

Unfortunately, anyone subscribing to such theories were wrong.

Just like the Global Financial Crisis, this was an accident.

The only difference being that if you go to jail for "accidentally" getting too excited at your new found wealth, there will be no "bail out" for you. That's part of the privilege of lacking power and influence.

One talkback caller claimed two of his friends had withdrawn $500 from an ATM in Gymea when their accounts had only a few dollars in them. Was he for real or ribbing the media and its audience? In the short term, this is hard to verify.

Detective Superintendent Col Dyson from the State Crime Command's fraud squad warned it was a criminal offence to keep excess money dispensed from an ATM and that it would eventually have to be returned to the bank.

Paul Murray reminded his audience on Sky News last night that to participate in the great cash swindal would be akin to leaving your wallet behind at the scene of a crime, considering you could only withdraw excess amounts using your individual ATM card, which funnily enough has all your details on it.

So I guess for many people out there, you'll be doing a lot of sweating about the prospect of getting a knock on your door in the middle of the night from an evil shareholder demanding you hand "their" money back.

I just wonder how many people had a flutter on the horses with their "new" savings. That's what I call the "Double Trouble Extra Jail Term Deposit Super Special."

What will your excuse be if you find yourself down at your local police station trying to explain why you can't pay the rent but can drive a new Bentley?

Here are my top 5 free cash excuses:
1. Pardon me, Officer. I didn't think I was stealing. I thought it was interest earned.
2. I heard about banking reforms on the news and thought this was a rebate.
3. My wife told me to get fit, so I decided to go for a run on the bank.
4. The Government told me the economy was growing.
5. I didn't know bank bonuses were exclusively monopolised by the greedy.