Bank error makes man millionaire for a day

A businessman in Central China's Henan province received a series of mysterious deposits into his bank account totaling more than 17 million yuan ($2.69 million) on Sept 17, before the money disappeared a day later.

According to the man surnamed Wang, who owns a comb shop in the provincial capital Zhengzhou, he received 394 text messages from his bank over a 20-minute period on Sept 17 informing him of a series of deposits, the largest of which was for 5,728,232.19 yuan.

Wang visited a local branch of China Guangfa Bank to inquire about the money, where a member of staff told him his account was not frozen so cash could be withdrawn, according to a report in Henan Business Daily.

Wang did not withdraw the money and a day later received a further 394 text messages from the bank informing him of a series of withdrawals.

"I am quite worried about the safety of my bank account now," he said.

A member of staff in the bank's headquarters told Nanfang Daily the unusual account activity was caused by technical issues with a new bank system, which have now been resolved.

"We are deeply sorry this has caused trouble for one of our clients" she said.