Let's face it, cash transactions are pretty much a thing of the past with online payments being the norm now.
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However, when technology is involved, there's bound to be glitches, whether it's with eftpos, ATMs, online payments or, more recently, the ChooseCBR vouchers.
On this day in 1987, The Canberra Times reported on a "hiccup" with Westpac's ATMs, which resulted in several hundred thousand dollars of cash being overdrawn.
Westpac's troubles began when programmers installed a new version of IBM's software.
After a week-long crisis, Westpac closed all of its automated tellers throughout Australia suspecting widespread fraud.
Westpac's electronic banking manager Bill Paget said that because of the costs of recovering debts, the bank would not take legal action to get its money back from people who were unable to repay it.
The federal Treasury ordered an immediate inquiry on the situation.
"We were concerned for the cardholder where there was a technical malfunction and the cardholder lost money," a Treasury official said.
Westpac had blamed insufficient software testing for the disaster. Mr Paget said Westpac would not seek compensation from IBM.
"Our people were involved with the software all the way along. We have to be big boys and live with it."