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Commercial Bank of Ethiopia in Addis Ababa:

Photo: Michele Spatari / Bloomberg / Getty Images

Ethiopia's largest bank is taking drastic action against some of its customers: it is publishing a poster with pictures of 28 people in front of one of its branches in the capital Addis Ababa. It reads: "Those who have not returned the money they improperly took from the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia."

What happened? In mid-March, a technical glitch allowed the bank's customers to withdraw more than they had in their accounts. Around $40 million was withdrawn or transferred digitally during the disruption, Abe Sano, president of the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia, confirmed to reporters.

The value of the transactions ranged from 9 cents to 5,350 US dollars, said Sano. According to the bank, the problem was caused by a “routine system update and inspection” and not by a cyberattack.

News of the technical glitch spread quickly on social media. A large part of the money was withdrawn by younger people such as students. Several universities then publicly asked their students to return the money.

Almost 80 percent of the cash has now been returned to the bank - but not all of it. Almost 15,000 people voluntarily returned funds that were "illegally taken," the bank said in a statement. But some people still did not comply with the request.

The company's methods of recovering the lost money are becoming increasingly drastic: in late March, the bank published their names and account details online in an apparent attempt to shame them into returning them. Now the public “wanted” poster followed.

But returning the money is often difficult: "I know someone who bought a smartphone and a laptop and doesn't have any money on hand to give them back," said a student at Jimma University in western Ethiopia to the "BBC." . "There are some who have bought internet packages for a year and others who have paid off their debts."

"The total amount remaining is not important to the bank, but if that money is not paid back in full, it sends the wrong message," Sano said. According to the BBC, the bank also warned that those who kept the illegally withdrawn money would be arrested.

Ethiopian central bank boss threatens customers

The bank, meanwhile, claims it was "forced" to reveal the identities of the people because they ignored multiple warnings and deadlines to return the money. Sano also told the BBC that the bank was already in the process of reporting customers to the police.

The bank boss issued a warning to anyone unwilling to hand over the money: “There is no way they can escape because these are digital transactions and they are our customers. We know you. They are traceable and they are legally responsible for what they did.”

The Commercial Bank of Ethiopia was founded in 1963 and is the country's largest bank with 40 million customers.

eru/AP