Some customers at one of Ireland’s largest banks, for one feverish summer evening, happened upon what seemed to be a magical loophole: They could spend their cash and apparently save it, too.
When a “technical issue” at Bank of Ireland cut some customers off from online banking services on Tuesday, others found that it also allowed them to transfer or withdraw funds, even beyond the account limit, without changing the reported balance.
It was an apparent windfall that brought lines to some A.T.M.s across the country, and in turn prompted the authorities to monitor crowds, even as the bank warned people not to overdraw their accounts.
There was an “unusual volume of activity” at several machines in Dublin and elsewhere, the Irish police, An Garda Síochána, said. The police added that officers were deployed to provide security near some of the machines for what they said were public safety and order reasons.
“We are aware that the technical issue meant some customers were able to withdraw or transfer funds above their normal limits,” the bank said in a statement on Wednesday apologizing for the outages.
Services were restored overnight, but customers were warned that online banking would be slow on Wednesday as the bank caught up with processing payments, the bank’s customer support representatives said on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.
And bank representatives were clear that any money transferred from accounts was not free to keep. Transfers and withdrawals made during the disruption would appear on accounts that day, the bank said in its statement, adding: “We urge any customer who may find themselves in financial difficulty due to overdrawing on their account to contact us.”
But on Wednesday, customers still flooded the social media account with angry messages, reporting that their balances had not been updated correctly or that their online banking services remained disrupted.
Some users said that they could not verify that monthly rent or mortgage payments had cleared, and others complained that they were scared to spend in case they accidentally went into overdraft, or that they were having trouble reaching support services to discuss a repayment plan.
The technical issues, according to local media outlets, meant that some customers were able to transfer large amounts — some reports put the figure at 1,000 euros, or about $1,092 — to an account with another bank without their Bank of Ireland balances recording the transaction, and then withdraw the amount in cash.
Christopher Murray, 30, was one customer caught up in the fiasco. Mr. Murray had been in the midst of paying some bills ahead of a planned cruise this month without realizing that the transactions were not updating correctly and that his account was in overdraft.
Mr. Murray said that he had tried transferring €1,000 into an account with Revolut, an online bank, thinking it wouldn’t work. But the money arrived in the Revolut account, and as of Wednesday afternoon, Mr. Murray still could not see his updated balances on his Bank of Ireland app.
Mr. Murray, who works two jobs and is based in Dublin, said he tried to call the Bank of Ireland several times on Wednesday about repaying the amount. He had no problem repaying the amount he owed, he said, but did not want to be penalized for the bank’s mistake.
In an apparent nod to the reports, the Irish police reminded people of their “personal responsibility” for their finances.
Aside from the withdrawal glitch, customers said that the outage was especially frustrating given that the bank charged monthly fees to maintain the account — €6 for a personal use account — and called for a reimbursement.
The episode was serious enough that government officials asked the Central Bank of Ireland, the industry regulator, to investigate the circumstances leading to the glitch.
“Disruption to banking services can have a significant effect on people’s personal lives and on the running of businesses,” Michael McGrath, Ireland’s finance minister, said in a statement.
Given the country’s “growing dependence on technology for the delivery of financial services,” Mr. McGrath said, he also asked the central bank to more broadly assess the robustness of technology systems used by regulated banks in Ireland to cushion the impact of outages.
The Central Bank of Ireland said in a statement that it had begun working with Bank of Ireland to establish “a full account of the incident,” which would include plans to avoid future disruptions. “We require banks to put things right where they have made errors or cause customer harm,” the statement said.
In its apology, Bank of Ireland acknowledged the service “fell far below the standards our customers expect from us.” Headquartered in Dublin, Bank of Ireland is among the oldest financial institutions in the country, and opened Ireland’s first A.T.M. in 1980.
The whole affair left Mr. Murray, the Dublin resident, considering moving all his money to another banking platform instead. “I feel like it’s the bank’s fault,” Mr. Murray said, adding that he already had little faith in the future of traditional Irish banking. As of Wednesday afternoon, the €1,000 were still sitting in his account, he said. He would leave the money there, he said, until the bank fixed its error.
