Simone Hubbard of Pakenham and her 11-month old daughter Gabrielle Macri are short on cash after Ms Hubbard’s transaction card and $400 cash were stolen from a Main St automatic teller machine.
By Elizabeth Lillis
A PAKENHAM mother’s misfortune at a Main Street automatic teller machine has left her short of cash.
Simone Hubbard said she left her transaction card in the ANZ teller machine while she went for assistance in the ANZ branch in Main Street, Pakenham.
But after walking away, $400 was stolen from her account.
The mother of three’s situation has been compounded because $300 of the cash taken was a loan from Centrelink for family assistance.
Ms Hubbard said she went to the machine late Friday afternoon 12 January and discovered her balance was unusually high with $600 in the account.
“I tried to request a mini-statement to find out where the money came from and when this didn’t print and kept asking for another option, I went into the branch for help,” she said.
Ms Hubbard said she waited in the queue for about four or five minutes before getting help.
Ms Hubbard said bank staff helped her to see if the machine had pulled the card inside, but it was soon discovered the card had been taken about 4.45pm.
The additional funds in her account were a family assistance loan payment.
Centrelink take $20 a fortnight from Ms Hubbard’s family assistance payments to pay back the loan.
Ms Hubbard said she was frustrated by the inconvenience of the statement not printing at the teller machine.
“It is frustrating when facilities on the machines don’t work … when it says a service is available when it is not,” she said.
Ms Hubbard said she had been “very stressed out” by the whole incident.
A spokewoman for ANZ corporate relations confirmed the teller machine at Pakenham did not have the function to print mini-statements.
Ms Hubbard said she did not receive a letter from Centrelink advising her that the money had been paid into her account.
“If I’d been notified I would have known and not had to inquire about where the money was from,” she said.
Ms Hubbard said she reported the incident to police but little could be done because there was no camera on the automatic teller machine.
A bank’s spokeswoman said the bank did not discuss the location of cameras for security reasons.
“It is a really unfortunate incident and serves as a timely reminder for customers to be responsible with their cards,” she said.
Ms Hubbard said: “I really want whoever took the money to realise what a problem they have caused us.”
She said the lost money would have been helpful buying nappies and for getting school equipment for her children, aged five and seven.
Ms Hubbard said she has made an appeal to Centrelink to have the loan cancelled and is waiting for a replacement card from the ANZ Bank.
