Counterfeit bills at the bank

While I’ll be interested to see what answers pop up in MSK’s ransom or stolen money: “un-marked” bills thread, it sparked thoughts of a question I’ve wondered about.

When you get currency from a bank, are you able to assume that it is genuine? Do banks take measures to assure they catch any counterfeits that come in their possession?

As opposed to most institutions, I suppose a bank is more likely to stop counterfeit bills from recirculating. Once they get them into qualified hands, they can weed out the bad ones and prevent them from re-entering the money pool.

That being said, it is still pretty easy to pass a fake bill to the bank. I would think tellers aren’t that interested in anti-counterfeiting measures (a teller friend of mine said never once did they mention how to spot bad bills when she was training). I don’t mean to sound like tellers have no clue, but I don’t think that it’s a very high priority. I think once it gets into more capable hands though, the bills disappear.

While I acknowledge that a teller taking in a deposit might not catch a bogus $20 bill, I’m really asking if the outgoing money supply is “cleansed” or not. A teller making change out of a cash drawer might, I suppose, pass to someone the funny sawbuck he or she just took in from the previous customer, but what about the currency disgorged by ATMs?

HA! 3 weeks ago my bank tried to give me 3 counterfeit twenties! As the teller was counting out the money I noticed that some of the bills were sticking together. I jokingly remarked “Those aren’t fake, are they?”, she said no, but held them up to the light and ,lo and behold, no little Jackson and no plastic strip! She apologized and called the manager over. He apologized also, but I didn’t get any free money.

I’m pretty sure that the ATM is safe, though. I think that they only use freshly-minted and bundled bills, so as to avoid jamming the machine.

Why wouldn’t the bank put them back into circulation. It will be the bank’s loss if they take them out. The above example the bank was out $60.00. Multiply that by a hundreds and it’s costly

I’m not saying they do, but I wouldn’t put it past them.

Banks do this all the time with Canadian money. Can’t tell you how much Canadian money you get in coin rolls

I believe it’s incredibly illegal for a bank or it’s officers to knowingly pass counterfeit currency, or currency of another nation out as it’s own. And the “loss”, relative to the bank’s income, is trivial at most.

I’m sure they also have insurance for that type of thing. Probably happens all the time when they send their stash back to the Federal Reserve.

Well, i’m not so sure about that… i’ve seen atm’s put out old 20’s before…

I can definitely verify that plenty of institutions will give out Canadians coins as if they were American. It doesn’t bother me because I just give it to the next person, who will give it to the next person, etc.

You can get a cheap pen that detects if the money is real or not. My bank uses it sometimes.

Ain’t no guarantees in life, beatle. That said, it’s probably safer to assume that currency from a bank is real than currency you receive from other everyday sources. It depends alot on the bank and the teller in question. An experienced teller will be more likely to spot a couterfeit than a new hire.

Banks have several defenses against counterfeits: 1) automated bill counters that check for counterfiets as they count; 2) the “counterfeit pen” that handy mentioned; and 3) training. How they use these defenses depends on the bank.

Mr. Sheepshead, I’m not doubting what you say, but I cannot imagine that a bank would not include recognizing counterfeits as a normal course during teller training. Look at it this way - if the teller spots the counterfeit while the customer is present it’s the customer’s loss. The bank is required by law to confiscate the bill(s) and send them to a local Secret Service office. If the counterfeits are caught later it’s the bank’s loss. There is no insurance for those type losses. The teller is the bank’s first line of defense against counterfeit bills.

Bank branches recirculate money more than most folks realize. We only order from or ship to the Federal Reserve when absolutely necessary. If a branch always took in the same amount in deposits as it gave out in withdrawals, there would never be a need to ship to or order from the Fed. Money that is shipped to the Fed is scanned and counterfeits removed (and charged to the bank that sent them). To confuse the matter more, branches normally do not ship/receive from the Fed, but from an armored car company. Money received at bank ‘A’ from the armored car company may have been shipped there by another bank ‘A’ branch, by a bank ‘B’ branch, or a large merchant. It’s truly a wonder that more counterfeits don’t get through.

Again, it depends. Most ATM money is ordered from the Fed or an armored car company because the currency must be “ATM fit”. “ATM fit” may mean new bills or good condition used bills. Used bills on good condition work better than new bills, which tend to stick together and cause rejects and jams. Good used bills, however, come at a cost. ATM fit bills must be segregated from all the other bills, either at the branch or the armored carrier. The cost of jams from new bills must be weighed against the cost of segregating good used bills and the bank decides which to use. The model of ATM matters, too. Some work better with new bills, some with used bills. That explains why chronos sees new bills from his ATM and cheif sees used ones from his.

You betcha!

I have to agree w/ Dr. Jackson, When I worked as a teller for a large, multinational bank we received anti-counterfeit training, including information on the security features of the money (there were fewer back then). Also, we were instructed to call the Secret Service if there was even the slightest doubt.

About a year ago, my friend went to a Wells Fargo Bank and got money from a teller which contained a counterfeit $20. We went straight from the bank to go have lunch and when he tried to coincidentally pay with that $20, the restaurant somehow noticed it was fake and refused it. They gave it back to him (along with the stink eye) and he used another (good) $20 the bank had given him to pay for his meal.

Needless to say, we went straight back to the same bank and went to the same teller to get it straightened out after lunch. She took the $20, showed the manager, and he confiscated it, refusing to give my buddy another good $20 dispite the fact it was the bank’s fault. They, of course, told him they had no guarantee they had given him that $20 and told him he was screwed.

So, he rather unpolitely (and quite noisily) asked for a REAL cashier’s check of his remaining account balance because as far as he was concerned, the bank was going to start handing him monopoly money and then claim they hadn’t.

He now banks at Bank of America (not that they are particularly great either and would probably have the same counterfeit bill policy…)

Others probably know more than I do, but this is likely the policy of any bank you’re likely to find. Looking at it from their perspective, they don’t have any way of knowing that the counterfeit $20 you’re accusing them of having given you really came from them.

Not that it matters, anyway. It seems that law and common practice are pretty much in agreement on this: whoever happens to be holding a counterfeit bill when it’s identified as such is screwed. It’s like a hot potato…

I was hoping Doctor Jackson would show on this thread. I guess my remaining question is where does one find a Fed ATM?

I was a bank teller for more than 5 years, and after handling money for a while, I could spot a fake a mile away. I do have to say, some of the fake 100s were good, but they could never duplicate the faces exactly. In training, they taught us to count by the faces, not the corners. This helps in catching counterfeits, as well as catching raised bills. (A raised bill is a single with the corners of a twenty taped on.)
BTW, when we were presented with a fake for deposit, we had to confiscate it and forward it to the Secret Service, and all the poor sucker got was a receipt that he could use as a deduction at tax time.
Rose

A couple of weeks ago I got a fake five from a supermarket. Not only was it fake it was a bad fake. The backside was upside down. Since I got it in a pile of change, I didn’t realize it until I tried to buy something later in the day. I called the supermarket as soon as I could, and they told me to come in the next day and they would exchange it for me.

First, I’m impressed that they believed me enough to exchange the fake five for a real one.
Second, who the hell is going around counterfeiting $5’s?

I don’t believe any special screening process is used for ATMs above what the tellers use. If anything, there is probably less human involvement in filling an ATM, making your chances of picking up a fake greater.

To illustrate – I got a fake $20 in the middle of a $200 withdrawal from a Citibank ATM. I did not realize what it was until I attempted to use it to pay for gas. The cashier did a classic double take and handed me back the bill, responding to my irritated inquiry with “I can’t take it. It’s funny money.” When I took a closer look at it, I realized just how bad the fake was. The image was misaligned, and all over the ink had saturated the paper, causing the image to bleed. The paper itself had the rough texture of blotter. I had not noticed any of this at the ATM since the bill was in the middle of a stack of twenties.

The bank was quite far away from my normal stomping grounds. I spoke with many of my friends about the incident, and was surprised at how many had similar stories to relate; every one involved fakes dispensed by an ATM. Invariably, those who tried to return the fake to the bank had it confiscated, and the banks expressed their sincere wish that their day be pleasant before sending them on their merry way. I decided not to waste my time fighting with the bank, and gave the bill to someone as a curio.

I saw on a TV show about counterfeiting that the Fed will reimburse a bank that discovers they’ve accepted fake money. I would advise people not to just “turn it in” to the bank if they discover after the fact their bank has given them fake money, but to report the problem to the Feds. Then the Bank will be much more likely to give you your real money back.

Anyone ever get extra 20s out of an ATM? Gotta love those humid summer days.