On February 7th, a senior citizen in Jining City, Shandong Province, discovered that 1000 RMB was missing from their account after depositing money at a bank in the city. After reporting the incident to the police, the bank claimed it was a mistake made by an employee. However, the explanation provided by the bank did not satisfy netizens, and the news quickly became a hot topic on Baidu on February 10th.
According to a video posted by a Shandong netizen on February 7th, the elderly individual’s account at a bank in Jining, Shandong, showed a shortfall of 1000 RMB compared to the actual deposit made.
On the 8th, the involved China Postal Savings branch in Liangshan County, Shandong, told the mainland media “New Beijing News” that it was a misunderstanding, and the police had been involved. The staff at the branch stated that the elderly person had handed over cash in a somewhat crumpled manner, making it difficult for the cash counting machine to recognize the amount. The staff member who was relatively new to the job did not count the money properly for the elderly person at the time, but upon realizing the mistake, the money was refunded to the elderly individual.
“New Beijing News” reached out to the family members of the elderly person for verification, and they confirmed the bank’s explanation, expressing understanding towards the situation.
However, many netizens questioned the bank’s lack of responsibility. How could such a basic mistake occur?
A netizen named “我的艾薇兒” stated: “I don’t believe this explanation at all. When you deposit money at a bank, you have to go through it multiple times, so how could the machine not recognize it?”
“liushengqi000” also commented: “This is ridiculous. How do they manage the daily cash count?”
“股聊齋” said: “The claim that the money was crumpled and couldn’t be recognized is absurd. Also, coincidentally being short 1000 RMB, the cash counting machine should have given an alert.”
“霧凇翠柏22” believed: “This seems intentional.”
A Baidu user, d945e126f, raised an interesting perspective, “If a customer accidentally takes extra money from the bank, could that also be considered a misunderstanding? If the mistake is not discovered in time, does that mean there was no misunderstanding? If bank staff deliberately steal from customers, would it be considered a misunderstanding if they were caught?”
A Chinese legal professional, “木子學法律,” pointed out that according to the Contract Law and the Commercial Bank Law, banks, as financial service providers, have an obligation to ensure the accuracy and security of their services. If a customer incurs financial losses due to operational errors, the bank should bear corresponding civil liability.