Bank accounts drained for some customers at Suffolk County National Bank

MEDFORD, Long Island (WABC) -- Customers of a bank on Long Island are reporting money stolen out of their accounts over the weekend, with the amount missing in the thousands for some.

Eyewitness News was first to report on this exclusive story involving the Suffolk County National Bank Tuesday.

Customers said the money was withdrawn from ATMs in Manhattan and Queens. Some people said so much money was taken out that their accounts went into a negative balance.

According to customers, the bank told them they'll have the money back in their accounts within 10 days. But the time it's taking customers to get everything straightened out is not short - some people spent hours at the bank Tuesday morning.

The thieves got more than $900 out of Tony Lawrence.

"When you opened your account and you saw that type of money gone what did you think?", we asked him.

"I was livid," said Lawrence. "I called up. unfortunately the bank wasn't open on Monday. When I showed up this morning the line was all the way out the door so I knew something was wrong at that particular time. I would say two and half hours now."

Steven Mahoney was trying to treat his grandmother to breakfast Sunday when something went wrong.

"I go up to the counter and they say you have insufficient funds. I said this is a debit card, not my credit card, I said can you try it again she says sure. She said sir I'm sorry you have insufficient funds," said Mahoney.

Thousands of dollars had been stolen out of Mahoney's account at Suffolk County National Bank.

He's one of dozens of customers of the Medford branch who noticed huge withdrawals on their accounts this weekend.

"A couple of hundred?", we asked customer Diane Ciardullo. "A couple of thousand, same with everyone inside," she said.

We reached out to the bank to find out how many customers have been affected and how their accounts were compromised but our many calls were not returned.