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Banking Glitch Gives Student $9.9 million.
Posted: 2003-03-06 09:42pm
by Exonerate
Bank glitch gives student $9.9 million
PRINCETON, New Jersey (AP) --An online banking glitch gave a Princeton University student access to university accounts totaling $9.9 million when he tried to access a student publication's account.
Freshman Ira Leeds didn't take any money.
Leeds, financial manager for The Princeton Tory, was attempting to access the conservative magazine's account with PNC Bank on Friday when he accessed all 15 of the University's accounts, which totaled just over $9.9 million.
Finding out about it
It was his first time trying to access the account online.
"We buy a lot of paper and stamps and envelopes, sometimes pizza for meetings and so forth. It helped to have the online access so I could track the activity on our debit cards as they were being used," he said.
Leeds alerted PNC Bank officials that night and The Tory sent e-mails to university President Shirley Tilghman and Provost Amy Gutmann about the error.
It turned out that the magazine's online log-on number is identical to the university's, because it is the same as Princeton's federal taxpayer identification number.
Was the money accessible?
Bank spokesman Joe Whall wouldn't say whether Leeds or anyone at The Tory could have withdrawn funds from the university accounts if they had tried.
"The funds are absolutely safe. No transactions were made," he said.
Princeton officials were looking for answers from the bank.
"We're not happy," said spokeswoman Lauren Robinson-Brown. "The bank has notified us that they will immediately block all university accounts from being accessed via their Web product."
http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/internet/0 ... index.html
Posted: 2003-03-06 09:44pm
by Morning Star
There
is a God!
Posted: 2003-03-06 09:46pm
by Joe
Kid's got character.
Posted: 2003-03-06 09:47pm
by Superman
Why doesn't this kind of thing ever happen to me?
Posted: 2003-03-06 09:48pm
by Exonerate
Durran Korr wrote:Kid's got character.
I remember in LA where some security truck lost a few thousand dollars... Some poor guy picked it up, but returned all of it. The company gave him a few thousand to show their gratitude.
Posted: 2003-03-06 10:10pm
by Darth Yoshi
WHAT?! Dammit! How come nothing like that ever happens to me?
Well, the kid's got a firm set of morals, at least.
Posted: 2003-03-06 10:35pm
by Asst. Asst. Lt. Cmdr. Smi
Darth Yoshi wrote:WHAT?! Dammit! How come nothing like that ever happens to me?
Well, the kid's got a firm set of morals, at least.
Morals, schmorals. He should have taken the money and acted like it never happened.
I believe it has happened with others, but I'm sure you're far more likely to become a millionaire by winning the lottery than you are from some banking glitch.
Posted: 2003-03-06 10:37pm
by HemlockGrey
-slap-
Take!
-slap-
The!
-slap-
Money!
-slap-
You
-slap-
FREAK!
Posted: 2003-03-06 11:11pm
by Luke Starkiller
Darth Yoshi wrote:WHAT?! Dammit! How come nothing like that ever happens to me?
Well, the kid's got a firm set of morals, at least.
Probably also something of a pragmatist. The university would have noticed that they were missing money and be able to track the transaction. Then the student gets arrested for theft.
Posted: 2003-03-06 11:25pm
by DPDarkPrimus
Exonerate wrote:Durran Korr wrote:Kid's got character.
I remember in LA where some security truck lost a few thousand dollars... Some poor guy picked it up, but returned all of it. The company gave him a few thousand to show their gratitude.
I wonder if this kid gets a reward...
Posted: 2003-03-06 11:30pm
by ben
All I'm gonna say is that the Bank and Princeton got lucky that the kid has got morals or is a pragmatist. I can imagine that instead of this guy that another person with less morals or is stupider getting access to the accounts.
Posted: 2003-03-07 12:01am
by ArmorPierce
The best reward is the satisfaction of doing something right....
Posted: 2003-03-07 12:09am
by Ghost Rider
Oi, damn lucky bank.
Posted: 2003-03-07 12:13am
by TrailerParkJawa
There is a high chance he would have gotten caught, I would not have taken the money cause you would end up in jail.
Posted: 2003-03-07 12:33am
by ArmorPierce
You could have pleaded ignorance.
Posted: 2003-03-07 12:36am
by neoolong
Kind of worrying that glitches of that magnitude can happen. Though infrequently at least.
Posted: 2003-03-07 12:37am
by Superman
But never to me, so I don't have to worry about it.
Posted: 2003-03-07 12:37am
by TrailerParkJawa
ArmorPierce wrote:You could have pleaded ignorance.
Ignorance of what? I guess you could get away with a few hundred bucks and say you never noticed the balance was in the millions, but I doubt it.
I would not try to claim it was not me, since there would be logs of the transactions.
Posted: 2003-03-07 09:07am
by Xenophobe3691
Screw the money, I prefer to work for mine. Getting it for free gives you a taste of a forbidden fruit that's hell hard to let go of.
Posted: 2003-03-07 12:05pm
by RedImperator
The Princeton Tory! I know those guys! And yeah, if he'd withdrawn the money, he would have been caught and gone to jail.
Posted: 2003-03-07 12:09pm
by jegs2
ArmorPierce wrote:The best reward is the satisfaction of doing something right....
I'll second that. My hat's off to that kid.
Posted: 2003-03-07 08:41pm
by Gandalf
9.9 Mil, how many kegs would that be?
Posted: 2003-03-07 09:30pm
by ben
A good sized swimming pool at least. Not a bad way to drown though.
Posted: 2003-03-07 09:52pm
by Gandalf
How much does 1 keg set you back?