Is it a crime for a teller to mistakenly deposit 10,000 yuan into their own account?
Depositor Ms. Yang transferred 120,000 yuan at a bank but found only 110,000 yuan credited. Upon inquiry, she discovered that 10,000 yuan had been transferred to the personal account of the teller who handled her transaction. On February 10, the bank's manager explained that the teller did not intentionally transfer the money to her own account, but mistakenly used her own bank card as the recipient account during the operation.
Ms. Yang contacted the bank's lobby manager to investigate. After a brief inquiry, the truth came to light: this 1 yuan was transferred to another account, whose owner was the teller Ms. Wang who had just processed Ms. Yang's transaction. "The bank then reversed the transaction and transferred the 1 yuan back to my account," Ms. Yang said.
On the 10th, a reporter saw this personal business transaction slip (reversal). The reason for reversal was handwritten: teller mistakenly entered the wrong recipient card number during transfer, hence the reversal. The bank manager explained to the reporter that day: "Our bank staff will never intentionally transfer depositors' money into their own accounts. Please rest assured."
(Huashang Daily)
Whether or not a crime is committed depends on intent.
Whether the bank teller, Ms. Wang, has violated criminal law depends on whether her actions were intentional. First, it does not constitute embezzlement. This money is not company property, but someone else's property. Therefore, it falls outside the scope of this crime.
Second, covertly taking someone else's property constitutes theft, but it still depends on whether the teller acted intentionally: if it was intentional, it constitutes theft; if it was an operational error, although it does not violate criminal law, the unjust enrichment must be returned to the depositor. Whether intent existed requires investigation and determination by the public security authorities.
