Man goes on ATM rampage after machine rejects his card

In an uncontrollable fit of ATM rage, a Chinese man took a hammer to nine cash machines in the City of Guangzhou after his bank card was rejected.

The 43-year old man, Bo Teng, needed the cash to pay for a hotel on an overnight stay in the Southern Chinese province of Guangdong.

But after repeatedly failing to make the withdrawal, he walked to his car and returned with a hammer which he used to smash the offending machine and three others in the bank lobby.

Still not satisfied, Teng walked to another bank with five cash machines on display and hammered into those as well.

The police say that in his fury he failed to realise that his card was rejected because of insufficient funds in his account.

The bank in question is suing him to the tune of £20,000 for the cost of repairing the machines and filing charges of criminal damage with the police.

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Banks which are affected with the angery bird 'Teng' need to send him first to Meditation or rehab course to keep his calm and then recover the money :) ( Ofcourse banks can play a peace making music while customer transact :D)

But there is serious take away from this incident that ATM Transactions with (Reason code - 51) Insufficient fund can be game changer. Bank can use analytics to build micro loan instantly and offer him on ATM or Mobile.

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Ramamohan Chalikonda - ICFAI - Hyderabad 28 November, 2014, 04:14

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If it is for payment to a hotel for stay, wonder why he had not settled the bill thro' credit card payment. The bank should sell him a credit card and educate him on waht to use when.

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A Finextra member 30 November, 2014, 06:57

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Another reason to gradually wean ourselves off cash and move to either plastic, (debit or credit), or go to one of several modes of mobile phone payments such as Apple Pay, Google Pay or Softcard. From what I have been reading in articles on the internet, Apple Pay is going to be a monster ie., absolutely huge, a total game changer. The advent of Apple Pay will be a boon to all consumers and citizens who are concerned that payments with smartphones will compromise their privacy. This is certainly not the case with Apple Pay, who have ensured that all iPhone users who use Apple Pay, will have their privacy maintained from Apple, and any bank or merchant.