In many ways, ATM machines on the streets have been a brilliant innovation, saving people time by sparing them trips to crowded banks. However, they sometimes face challenges, either from thieves trying to steal the money inside or from unexpected and unusual problems — like becoming a safe haven for hungry rodents, as happened in a town in India.

In 2018, a hungry rat managed to find its way into an ATM belonging to the State Bank of India (SBI) in the town of Tinsukia, located in the northeastern state of Assam. The machine held a total of 2.9 million rupees (around $42,000). Once inside, the rat began gnawing away at the cash, causing significant damage to the machine, which remained out of service for several days. As complaints from customers grew about the malfunctioning ATM, the bank’s management sent a maintenance team to investigate and fix the issue.

When the maintenance crew arrived and opened the machine, they were shocked to discover piles of shredded currency, mostly in 500 and 2,000-rupee notes, with the rat lying dead among the ruined cash. Local police were called to investigate, and the district police superintendent, Mugdha Jyoti Mahanta, later issued a statement saying that the rat had entered the ATM through a small opening meant for cables, bypassing the machine’s security system and evading detection by the camera. Meanwhile, the branch manager, Chandan Sharma, confirmed that an internal investigation was underway, and measures would be taken to prevent such incidents from happening again.

Despite the rat having chewed through a significant amount of money, estimated at 1.2 million rupees (approximately $18,000), the good news was that not all the cash was lost. About 1.7 million rupees (around $25,000) were salvaged and returned to the bank.