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With a soaring cost of living, many people are typically walking away from ATMs with less money than they might have hoped to. But it seems people have been making the most of one errant cash machine apparently dispensing double what it was being asked for.

Police were forced to disperse a crowd that had gathered around the ATM in Dundee, Scotland, following reports that it was giving out extra notes.

Officers were called to reports of the faulty ATM at around 4.20pm yesterday.

The ATM sits on Charleston Drive, in the Lochee area to the east of the city, near Ninewells hospital.

Police Scotland confirmed that the machine has since been turned off.

One witness told local newspaper the Courier that a long queue had formed for the cash machine, as news spread that it was dispensing “double what people were requesting”.

A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “We received a report of a faulty cash machine on Charleston Drive, Dundee, around 4.20pm on Tuesday.

“Officers attended and the crowd was dispersed.

“The manufacturer was contacted and the machine turned off.”

Under Scottish common law, theft is defined as the taking and keeping of property without the consent of the rightful owner.

It is believed that keeping money accidentally dispensed is therefore an offence.

Similar principles apply in English and Welsh law, however the Theft Act of 1968 outlines a specific definition which requires dishonesty.

However, it is not something that has historically been enforced.

In Dundee again, in 2011, those who took money from a faulty cash machine were reportedly told by the operator that they would not have to return the extra money, but they could do so if they wish.

It is not the first time this year that large crowds have been reported as flocking to a faulty ATM vending extra cash.

According to local reports, in June a cash machine in Maharashtra, India attracted a flock of people after it was found to be dispensing five times what it should have due to a technical glitch.

Police Scotland usually warn of scams around ATMs, including devices that can be affixed to cash machines to steal users’ bank details without them realising.

When two such devices were uncovered in Inverness, the force warned that “millions of pounds are stolen at UK cash machines each year”.

Some criminals even take to stealing ATMs altogether.

In 2019, police in an Aberdeenshire village launched an investigation after a forklift-style picker was used to carry an ATM away from a Scotmid store.

The cash machine in Torphins was recovered nearby, and the thieves were said not to have been able to access any cash.

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