Bank Gave Counterfeit Bills, Couple Says

[dysfunctional press]

Source: local6.com

ORLANDO, Fla. -- A couple has contacted the Secret Service claiming a Central Florida bank gave them 10 counterfeit bills during a transaction. Ulises Garcia said he was withdrawing cash from a Wachovia Bank and depositing it into a Bank of America so he could pay his bills online. However, the Bank of America teller noticed something funny about 10 of the 36 $100 bills Garcia said he received from Wachovia Bank -- they were counterfeit, Local 6's Tony Pipitone reported.

A Wachovia representative said it will not refund any money because it can't verify the $1,000 in counterfeit notes were the same bills Garcia was handed by their teller.But weeks later, Wachovia did refund $40 to another customer with a similar story, Local 6 has learned. Garcia said Wachovia is ripping him off and has alerted the sheriff's office, the Secret Service and the media.

"Ten (bills) in one transaction to come from one bank, that is definitely unusual," U.S. Secret Service representative Jim Glendinning said.

"But is it possible?" Pipitone asked.

"Remotely, yes it is," Glendinning said.

Read more: http://www.local6.com/news/16960809/detail.html

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if the bills did come from Wachovia- wouldn't the tellers fingerprints be somewhere on at least some of the bills?

[Hydra]

1. The fact that Wachovia didn't catch it is either embarrassing or deliberate

It's funny that they didn't just refund his bills- bad press is worse than paying out $1000.

[PA Democrat]

2. I worked as a teller throughout college and was given money by the head teller

that included one counterfeit $20 bill. She had taken the money from a business deposit and didn't catch the bad bill, but in all fairness, she may have used a currency counter which would have missed it. I could tell from the FEEL of the bill that there was something wrong.

Also, I would say that, yes, this IS possible unless banks are doing something different these days than they did when I worked as a teller more than 25 years ago.

[raebrek]

3. Tellers are trained to recognize counterfeit bills

I guess it could happen but I would think it was not very likely that 10 bills that were counterfeit were accepted by Wacovia in the first place. Much less given out again. The records would allow Wacovia narrow down who brought the bills in. I guess it could happen but they would have had to have had a very inexperienced teller at Wakovia in the first place.

Now the bank of america teller had no choice in the matter. They had to keep the money and send it to the Secret Service or the fed, I forget which it is but that is the law.

Raebrek!!!

edit to add: and they are to handle the counterfeit bills that are turned in as little as possible to preserve finger prints that may be on them.

[Dr.Phool]

4. Maybe the teller was distracted about losing her job.

Wachovia announced they were cutting 6,500 jobs yesterday.

And what are the customers complaining about? The counterfeit bills are probably worth more than the US currency right now.

[snooper2]

8. Or maybe the teller was slipping the fake bills...

so the till would be even and the teller could swap for the real mccoy

[dysfunctional press]

9. that's why i would think that maybe they would want to check for fingerprints...

tellers generally handle the bills quite a bit- when they count the money themselves, one bill at a time- and again one bill at a time when they count it out to you. i would think that if a wachovia teller had given him the fake bills, their fingerprints would have to show up somewhere on at least one of the twenty bills.

[Juneboarder]

5. This has happened to me once before

with a $100 bill and the bank wouldn't do anything for me. As a result, I now ask the tellers to mark each bill so I can make sure they are giving me legitimate cash.

[Tempest]

6. Maybe that's why their losses are only $8.86 billion

And not an even $9 billion.

[Indenturedebtor]

7. Or maybe having the gov't print money for them isn't going fast enough? n/t

[Castleman]

10. After getting hassled by store clerks

checking the money I give them (I look like a hatchet killer, so my money's most likely bad, right?), I now carry one of those counterfeit detector pens when I'm going to be dealing with any large cash, and I check the change the store clerks give me (it pisses them off to no end) and I ALWAYS check anything over a ten dollar bill from my bank! One of the tellers told me I didn't have to and that it offended her that I did so, and I shouldn't waste her time doing it. I told her that if she was going to check any cash I gave her, then I was damn well going to check anything she gave me. She tried to get the manager on her side, but one threat to pull my checking, savings, IRA, etc. as well as all of my family members pulling theirs from the bank, and he wisely sided with me. I've never gotten any bad money from BofA, though, but there's something to be said for bank that's been in business for over a hundred years.

[Codeine]

11. Those pens are incredibly unreliable.

They merely react to the composition of the paper used, so a raised note will mark as real, and a counterfeit bill printed on high-quality linen paper may as well. Better to simply become familiar with the various anti-counterfeit elements built into US currency; with the color-shifting inks, embedded security strips, watermarks, and texturized printed there is simply no excuse for taking a counterfeit bill.

[Juneboarder]

17. BofA... hmm I don't know.

They're about as crooked as all the rest of them!

BofA and Wells Fargo are on my top two list of banks to avoid

[Zhade]

12. Isn't Wachovia in dire financial trouble right now?

So they've resorted to stealing from their own customers, I see.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

13. I used to think Wachovia was pronounced somewhat like "watch over ya"

How fitting that it's pronounced "walk over ya".

[baldguy]

14. Either they're trying to run a scam or they've cut back on their security training.

When I was a manager in my dark days of retail, I had a guy try to pass about $500 in counterfeit bills on me. When the police showed up he claimed to be the foreign currency exchange officer at a major Canadian bank. It turned out that's exactly what he was, and he had got stuck with several thousand dollars of fake US cash.

[Doctor Cynic]

15. Maybe Wachovia is insolvent and cannot afford real money so they print fake ones. n/t

[Javaman]

16. That was my first thought. Oh have time changed. nt