Office workers pass an ANZ Bank sign in central Sydney April 24, 2008.
Office workers pass an ANZ Bank sign in central Sydney April 24, 2008. Reuters/Will Burgess

The Gold Coast woman whose bank account mysteriously reflected an extra $10 million but was left with a $7,500 debt has been told it was just an oversight. ANZ has admitted the error, but passed the blame to third-party ATMs.

Sue Lamb was shocked to see that her credit account had $9,990,420 balance on Saturday. It wasn’t hers. Aware of the repercussion of spending mistakenly deposited cash, she immediately called ANZ to report the extra dollars in her account. However, a customer rep of the bank told her that the money was hers, and that it was a “compound of all your company’s funds.”

Again, Lamb doesn’t have a company. She is a sole trader who has a small medical business. The bank hadn’t really helped her with her problem, but promised to call her to update her on any development. The bank didn’t call but solved the problem by just withdrawing the money and not informing her.

Gold Coast Woman Left With $7.5K Debt After ANZ Deposited $10M Into Her Bank Account

It should have been the end of that, but the bank also left her with a $7,500 debt upon taking the unexplained fund. Stressed with her instant millionaire status and subsequent debt, Lamb was hoping ANZ would call her to explain. The bank called her to apologise and explain what happened, but not before Lamb’s story has been shared on social media and reported on news sites.

According to the 49-year-old Labrador resident, several high-profile bankers from the company called her on Monday afternoon to blame third-party ATMs for the mistake. “They conference-called me and told me there was a nationwide problem with ATM machines which they were going to fix,” she told the Bulletin. “It doesn’t completely make up for the stress but they offered to take me out to lunch next week.”

A spokeswoman from the company added to the paper that they are investigating the issue, assuring Lamb that she doesn’t have to pay the $7,500 bill. The rep said that the ATM receipt shows the monthly spend cap rather than its actual balance.

“I’m glad it is all sorted but the bank should have fixed the problem when I first called them two days ago,” Lamb said of ANZ’s response. “They shouldn’t have waited for the media to get involved in it.