I would have to have approved every one of those transactions through an authenticator application attached to the bank. I even have to authenticate online purchases, whether I am using a credit card or a bank account to pay for something.

This absolutely does not happen in Australian banks. I might get an SMS once in a while when doing some online transactions, but almost never when transferring money around. I read that article too, and the transactions occurred at like 4 am I think? Surely there is a system in place that will red flag a transaction that occurs at that kind of timing and do a validation check. It should all be automated?

The silver lining is that the guy got his money back as the bank "investigated" and said it's not his fault, but the stress and sleepless nights is totally avoidable. Looking at the article though, seems like the bank was looking to blame the customer with their line of questioning. Always the customers' fault, never the banks.