BEIJING, Aug. 18 -- American John Hulpke warned readers Tuesday to check their bank accounts after drawing money from ATMs (automatic teller machines) after he unsuccessfully tried to extract money from an ATM on Monday.

    Hulpke is a teacher from Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. As the university has a MBA program based in Shenzhen, he frequently comes to Shenzhen.

    Hulpke arrived in Shenzhen on Monday and attempted to withdraw 2,500 yuan (US$310) from a Bank of China¡¯s ATM near the Hong Kong-Shenzhen border with a Bank of Communications¡¯ card.

    He followed the instructions, and the machine asked him to take his card and take the money. Then, he realized once he had taken his card there was no money. The screen showed ¡°transaction canceled¡± after a short period of time so Hulpke went to a Bank of Communications branch to check his account Tuesday. He was surprised that the computer showed he had withdrawn 2,500 yuan Monday. The Bank of Communications suggested that he should go to the Bank of China to solve the problem and get back his money.

    ¡°The Bank of China told me that they will give me a result in two weeks¡¯ time. I just called to remind other readers to be careful when operating the ATM and always keep an eye on their account. If I didn¡¯t check my account, I would never find my money gone,¡± Hulpke said.

    Mr. Qiu, a manager of the Bank of China¡¯s Xinxiu branch said it maybe a failure of China UnionPay¡¯s network and Hulpke would have his money back in two weeks.

    ¡°To be honest, these situations happen occasionally. So, we highly recommend our customers to check their accounts after operating the ATM,¡± Qiu said.

    (Source: Shenzhen Daily)