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Bank of America Gave Me A Counterfeit $20

wealthjunkie.com — I had four bucks left in my wallet last weekend. It was time to go to the ATM...

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  • grinch, on 10/12/2007, -30/+5That happened to a friend of mine too! Better check your 20's..
    • donwilson2, on 10/12/2007, -25/+8I just want to see the pictures, not read this guy's life history.
    • raybury, on 10/12/2007, -27/+5"Better check your 20's"

      I'm in my office, near the interstate.

      Oh, wait, that's my ten-20.
    • Lancer383, on 10/12/2007, -5/+13Strip clubs give me counterfeit one dollar bills all the time. Doesn't stop me from going.
    • tamrix, on 10/12/2007, -16/+4Who the ***** uses papper money anymore anyways..
      What the ***** are we living in, monopoly land.
      ***** get some real printed currency America you fags.
    • Osiriscky3, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9^ Umm?

      you're just jealous.

      do not pass go do not collect $200
    • Wacer, on 10/12/2007, -4/+3@tamrix "Who the ***** uses papper(sic) money anymore anyways.."

      Thats all I use. I don't deal with checking, credit cards, and loans.

      "America you fags"

      OK go crawl back in your hole.
  • mickeyknoxxx, on 10/12/2007, -6/+220Getting a counterfeit $20 dollar bill at an ATM machine, now that I believe.

    But a Bank of America Teller being nice and owning up to their mistake?

    Liar.
    • paulmike3, on 10/12/2007, -10/+62Cashiers are not supposed to return counterfeit money to people who attempt to pass it. They're taught to turn it in to a supervisor and call the police. Counterfeiting money is a serious crime, and returning it to the perp is just as serious.
    • oesj, on 10/12/2007, -2/+35@paulmike3

      anyone organised enough to be counterfeiting money, is probably sensible enough not to attempt to launder it by paying it into his own account! :P
      anyone caught with small amounts of fake money are victims, not perps.
    • xkenny13, on 10/12/2007, -0/+12paulmike3: I haven't worked retail in 20 years ... however when I did, we would frequently return credit cards that were marked "confiscate". They didn't want to be the ones left holding the bag in case the machine or the records were in error. To piss off a legitimate customer over a bank error would look bad on the retail establishment, and letting them keep the contested card didn't cost them a dime.
    • Jaq524, on 10/12/2007, -3/+50lol, "ATM machine"

      :)
    • paulmike3, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4@oesj

      He wasn't paying into his account, he was passing it at a Costco... All I'm saying is, the cashier shouldn't have returned the fake dough to him, or even put it in the register. When I worked retail, if you took a counterfeit bill during a transaction, you were responsible to pay it back to the employer. It should in no way be returned to the customer.
    • zlintux, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5@paulmike3
      What he means is that when you shop at costco, you have a membership (account). So to rip them off would be stupid -- they have your name and address.

      But yeah, I worked at a major retail store for 18 months. The policy we were told was to hold on to the counterfeit item (bill/credit card/check) unless we felt that we were putting ourselves in harms way. People who tried to pass fake money would always hide it amongst real money, and as such, the total would be high. So when we found a fake bill (or what we thought was one), we'd call a supervisor over to do a money drop. They'd take the money into a back room, alert LP and verify it using a fluorescent light and a magnifying glass. With a check, we'd do the same thing with "my supervisor needs to verify this" type excuse. Credit cards, you keep saying that your register is malfunctioning, and you call LP, use a special code work and pretend they're some sort of maintainance department.
      Honestly, you'd be truly surprised how often the guy would stand there and wait to be arrested. We had a great LP department too, so within 45 seconds of a call, there would be a very bulky LP agent fewer than 10 feet away. On one incident for which I was present, a guy tried to pass $120 in twenties amongst a $230 total. When we realised it was taking too long and ran, he left $110 in real money...

      Oh, and it's worth noting, that those counterfeit detection pens are mostly for *****. About 80% of the counterfeit money we caught, it was $20 or higher, and the notes would be $1 or $5 bills that were washed and then a $20, $50 or $100 face was printed on. Then, you take a clear glitter pen and go over the colour changing ink in the bottom right. Those pens would say the thing is real, and if a $5 was used (often for $50 and $100), a quick glance for the watermark or the strip inside the bill would show that both existed -- just the wrong face and wrong denomination on the strip (who actually bothers to check if it's the right president or reads that strip?).
    • blimpmaster, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0They NEVER give the suspect money back to the person who passed it. Even if they did and he returned it to his bank they would have had the Secret Service there in a second. If the Secret Service has not contacted him by now, they will.

      ***** story.
    • naldwell, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1Ass To Mouth
    • byrannewell, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Ummm... yeah. I got a fake $100 bill from Bank of America a couple years back- it's where I cashed my check every payday. I found out only after I tried to spend it at two different liquor stores. By the way- you know how hard it is to not have a liquor store call the cops on you when you give them a fake $100 bill? You can't even imagine how difficult it is to get them (both) to give you your fake $100 BACK. (One of the places had the 3 inch think bullet proof plastic with the tiny little hole for passing money back and forth.) But I digress- B of A did NOT give me my money back, in fact they told me it was MY fault, and I should have checked the bill before leaving the bank. The secret service told me to send them the bill (it was a washed $5), but my $100 would be foregone. Needless to say, I stopped going to that bank (if they can't catch the forgery, how can I?), and now have the tellers check for forgeries if I cash any amount over $1500.

      So... I still have the fake. Thanks B of A. Anyone know if I can write that off as a loss?
  • EntropyMan, on 10/12/2007, -6/+102Any chance that ATM was built by Diebold?
    • Takfam, on 10/12/2007, -9/+27Diebold actually makes ATMs. I don't know about the rest of the country, but they're used extensively in Southern California.

      http://www.diebold.com/gssssps/services1.htm
    • samadam, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8@Takfam:
      yep, they just replaced my local one with a diebold. Central Ohio.
    • Ratking, on 10/12/2007, -3/+42I just saw a new ATM being installed at work and it was Diebold software running on Windows XP.
      Luckily it's in a secure part of the building, because that machine could be compromised by a chimp with a coat hanger.
    • leobaby, on 10/12/2007, -9/+6If their ATM's functioned as well as their voting machines, I think people might actually get angry.
    • lunarworks, on 10/12/2007, -6/+2TD Canada Trust has been replacing all their old (and reliable) IBM ATMs with Diebold ones.

      It's so comforting...
    • CompIsMyRx, on 10/12/2007, -0/+18Diebold ATMs are pretty standard in some banks.
      However, most ATMs are actually just WinXP boxes with an ATM GUI program running 24/7.
    • MidnightWatcher, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8NCR makes the best ATMs. Always nice machines to do my banking with.
    • stevius, on 10/12/2007, -5/+3diebold have been making atms for decades before making voting machines, the company is 150 yrs old their image has been battered so much that they've thought about selling off the despised voting group: (ap article) http://redmondmag.com/news/article.asp?EditorialsID=8288
      It'll be difficult to find anyone who would want to jump into that mess though... building a voting machine should have been easy for them, it should have behaved just like an atm w/ paper receipts and transparency in the process and good records... but they screwed it up and now everyone is skeptical of the company.

    • EntropyMan, on 10/12/2007, -17/+2"However, most ATMs are actually just WinXP boxes with an ATM GUI program running 24/7."

      That's great, because according to Microsoft, 24/7 = 3.

      So the question is, for which 3 hours a day does the machine NOT spit out counterfeit currency? ;)

    • revenge7, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10@EntropyMan

      If your PC only works 3 hours a day, I doubt it is the OS's fault.
    • jcembree, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5The ATMs at Wal-Marts are NCR machines running WinXP. They had to reboot it once while I was there and since it has a touchscreen, I opened Windows Media Player on it while the ATM software was loading
    • ciram, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I second the diebold/winxp thing.. saw it myself in italy.. the atm would boot, crash, reboot, crash, reboot in an endless cylce... I stood infront of it for about two cycles until I gave up and used an old DOS ATM...

      http://i18.tinypic.com/2ytqryv.png
  • duckyfresh, on 10/12/2007, -6/+44The site is broken already... Bank of America CLEARLY doesn't want word getting out about their underground counterfeiting operation.
    • SpaceMonkeyZero, on 10/12/2007, -16/+44So that's how illegal immigrants are paying off their BoA credit card bills!
    • dphoenix1, on 10/12/2007, -9/+23umm, spacemonkey was in all likelihood referencing the illegal status of these immigrants, not their race... two completely different issues.
    • mccrusc, on 10/12/2007, -5/+17It's how I pay my bil...
      Hold on, FBI is at the do
    • texpundit, on 10/12/2007, -6/+4"Hold on, FBI is at the do..."

      Actually, that would the the Treasury Dept or the Secret Service...and they'd have already kicked your door down and rifle-whipped you to the floor.
    • laelfrog, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4From the Article:
      "It turns out that their branch of Bank of America did not maintain the ATM machines. Instead, they outsourced the job to another company. So the problem was that the other company slipped up and did not check all of the $20 bills before refilling the cash in the ATM."
    • Wacer, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1@dlebar04 "I don't see why people that make racial jokes here on Digg are being dugg up."

      What he said was not a racial joke! I didn't know "illegal immigrant" was a race of people, you idiot.
      Maybe the statement rings true with you because you are one.

  • JoeBaynham, on 10/12/2007, -3/+35Any chance the ATM was built buy the same company that built the server?
    • VaporBro, on 10/26/2007, -0/+4I'm pretty sure the ATM was, in fact, built...but I don't think that the ATM bought the same company that built the server.
  • TheDigerati, on 10/12/2007, -0/+34Down, google cache: http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:_4wb4AGv6sQJ:www.wealthjunkie.com/2007/04/20/bank-of-america-counterfeit-money/+http://www.wealthjunkie.com/2007/04/20/bank-of-america-counterfeit-money/&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us
  • TangerineDream, on 10/12/2007, -3/+17$20 bills is the most counterfitted bill of currency in the world because it is the 1/2 way point between being a very expensive bill and being a small bill. Examine how many clerks will give a second look to a $50 bill and above or mark it with a counterfit pen, but not give a rat's ass about a $20
    • greenlight2001, on 10/12/2007, -0/+23The 100 dollar bill is the most counterfeited in *foreign* countries. The 20 dollar bill is most counterfeited in the U.S. because its easier to pass here.
    • ridgelawrence, on 10/12/2007, -13/+2Speaking of counterfeiting 20$ bills, one of my old friends just got caught by my schools cafeteria for using a counterfeit bill and he got AEP for the rest of the year, I don't feel sorry for his stupid ass but I'm glad the cops didn't get involved, he woulda been screwed.
    • blobzorz, on 10/12/2007, -1/+38One time I payed a traffic ticket in $1 bills and the bursar took all the bills, laid them out in a fan shape, and used a counterfeit pen on all of them =p
    • flashboy131, on 10/12/2007, -5/+11those counterfeit pens don't work.

      Smart counterfeiters bleach a $1 or $5 and print the $20 or $100 on the bleached paper.
      I have seen bills like this with fake strips in them as well.
    • lunarworks, on 10/12/2007, -10/+6I once got stopped by a cashier for using a "fake" $20 bill. She said she was going to call the cops, and was giving me a real hard time.

      After about 10 minutes, she figured out that the note was in fact REAL. She just made a mistake.

      Twit.
    • spawnfree, on 10/12/2007, -11/+2"The 100 dollar bill is the most counterfeited in *foreign* countries."

      thats because it isnt worth much over here :D
    • why1ime, on 10/12/2007, -1/+33@ridgelawrence

      I remember one time, in middle school, the lunch lady accepted a "Sex Dollar Bill" (with Bill Clinton's face on it) because she thought it was a six dollar bill. She gave the kid $5 in change and everything. She eventually realized it, although I'm not sure if the kid who did it got in trouble. Not technically a counterfeit bill story, but I thought I'd share.
    • Cornloaf, on 10/12/2007, -4/+3Those counterfeit detecting pens just detect trace amounts of starch in the paper. Cheap paper will have starch in it and show up as counterfeit. The Amazing Randi had some fun with these pens a few years ago :

      http://www.randi.org/jr/070105quality.html#7
    • enginbeering, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6In China, every single time you spend a 100 yuan bill, the person checks it. This is true of everyone from grocery stores to street vendors. At first I was a little offended-thinking that they were checking it because I was a foreigner and they didn't trust me. I later found out that counterfeit 100's are a big problem in China, so just about everyone everywhere checks for them.
    • MAJORstrasser, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3This the same "sex" dollar bill?

      http://www.books4you.addr.com/ClintonSexDollarBill.html

      That woman must have been retarded. Well, that's redundant; she was a cashier in a middle school lunch room.
  • bahamat, on 10/12/2007, -23/+2http://www.duggmirror.com/
  • Enjoikr3w, on 10/12/2007, -1/+24Question: If you posses a counterfeit bill and try to spend it, not having a clue it's counterfeit, would you still be held accountable? Or do police investigate it and see if you made the bill or not?
    • TangerineDream, on 10/12/2007, -5/+24The police will determine if you committed a crime by your intent. Did you intend to use the counterfit bill, or was it an accident? They might get a warrant to check your house as well.
  • Daniel5884, on 10/12/2007, -2/+36@paulmike3 its actually the secret service not police that handle counterfeit currency
    • clickwir, on 10/12/2007, -12/+4Try using the REPLY function. It's been on digg for a while.
    • TheSabre, on 10/12/2007, -6/+1Actually, the local police departments handle counterfeiting as well. They pass the bills to the USSS, but they will do the initial questioning and investigations, if necessary, as well. The USSS hasn't handled counterfeiting on their own since they started protecting the president in the McKinley days. After that, counterfeiting has been more of a joint effort by various levels of law enforcement.
    • JohnEskandarian, on 10/12/2007, -5/+6lol @ TheSabre "After that, counterfeiting has been more of a joint effort by various levels of law enforcement."

      I'm protectin your townz, but counterfitting ur moniez...
      BUT WAIT! Those who use Adobe® Photoshop® software to manipulate the money as a career see their work as an art form.
    • FinalDoom, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4There was an episode a while back where some dumbasses in my school were scanning and printing one and five dollar bills and using them in the cafeteria. The police didn't come, the secret service did. I'm in a larger city, whether that means there is more work for police to do (they don't do much as far as I see) or more chance for the secret service to come, I don't know.
    • deaper, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2@TheSabre:
      You haven't got a clue what your talking about. The secret service has always been in charge of counterfitting since its inception. It has a dual mission. Protection and Investigation. They protect the president, vice president, and other designated officials, and investigate threats against said officials. They also investigate counterfitting, identity theft, and other financial fraud. Obviously they get more attention for protecting the president through their uniformed division. But the majority of secret service employees focus their efforts on financial crimes. And when counterfit bills come through, the local police do have jurisdiction while they await the secret service to send an agent in, but once the agent gets to the location they take over the case and local police have no jurisdiction at that point.
    • deaper, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4And using Adobe® Photoshop® is highly improbable. Ever tried to scan a 20 and open it in Photoshop®? If it's a fairly recent bill it won't even open it.
    • Neiby, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1It kind of depends on the situation. If a counterfeit bill is passed at a bank, the bank will deal directly with the Secret Service. They'd probably only contact the police if they had a reason to believe that the person passing it had criminal intent, which usually isn't the case.
  • benmarvin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+17@paulmike3
    Actually the few places I've worked in retail, specifically Lowe's and Home Depot, it was corporate policy to accept any bill. If you suspected counterfeit, set it aside and let LP handle the issue later. And not to confront or refuse anyone's tender.
    • skyfire1, on 10/12/2007, -2/+20Thanks for letting the criminals at Digg know where to circulate their money.
    • WarpFox, on 10/12/2007, -0/+19That's because they dont trust their cashiers to handle the situation. They would far rather eat $20 than get bad customer service. Or a lawsuit.
    • Wacer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2@skyfire1 "Thanks for letting the criminals at Digg know where to circulate their money."

      Unless they figure thats its just better to catch the persons face on camera and let the Service deal with them later.
  • benmarvin, on 10/12/2007, -7/+3http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:_4wb4AGv6sQJ:www.wealthjunkie.com/2007/04/20/bank-of-america-counterfeit-money/+http://www.wealthjunkie.com/2007/04/20/bank-of-america-counterfeit-money/&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us
  • PunkRockRalph, on 10/12/2007, -29/+1i JUST got my BoA credit card in the mail the other day, im a new customer.

    but those WaMu commercials are god damn hilarious

    maybe i should switch while i can. its art and money
  • mannymix03, on 10/12/2007, -2/+34lucky, the time this happened to me i tried to return it and the police came and questioned me for around 30 minutes, and at the end of all of it, they took the fake $20 and didn't give me crap.

    Moral of the story, use the counterfeit money
    • drdank, on 10/12/2007, -0/+12There isn't any incentive for the average citizen to turn in that counterfeit that they got with their change or bank withdrawal somewhere. Nobody wants to be out the money, so it becomes a game of "hot potato", passing it along until it gets yanked and the loser is out the face value of the bill.
    • oddmanout, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6i knew someone that turned a fake $20 bill once and the bank just kept it without reimbursing her. She didn't get it from that bank or anything... but the bank took it upon themselves to confiscate it....they said it was the policy.
  • bbobkins, on 10/12/2007, -0/+14America needs to take a leaf out of Australia's book, as it has the most secure currency in the world. Plastic see-though notes are almost impossible to counterfeit with today's technology.

    http://www.questacon.edu.au/html/plastic_banknotes.html

    • telemart73, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11Australia makes notes for other countries, as well. I used their plastic currency in Brunei and it was really interesting, well, really interesting to a geek who likes plastic money.
    • johnpaul191, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7basically the US Government feels that there is a very strong perception of the strength and stability of the US dollar around the world and they fear messing with the bills too much to shake that up. that's why we have not switched to bills in different sizes, plastic based etc etc etc. it was a major change that the newest redesigned bills are not just shades of green. that may change down the road, but that's why the US is seemingly so behind the rest of the world with high-tech money.
    • Light11, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6if they can be made, they can be counter fitted.

      also mexico does this too. try tearing a 200 peso bill and you cant do it
    • Wonderkind, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7In the US, our paper money is actually made of linen.
      They all look pretty much the same, they are all the same size, all easy for experts to fake, and to check one, you really have to look pretty hard.
      We'll probably never improve it. We have dollar coins that are the same size as our quarters.
    • Hillsfar, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2Australian money would melt in heat long before paper would... Then again, it wouldn't get wet enough to need drying in the oven, I guess.
    • oddmanout, on 10/12/2007, -0/+24we have plastic money, too... its called credit cards.... in fact, its so fancy, you don't even have to have the money to spend it.
    • hode, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1"basically the US Government feels that there is a very strong perception of the strength and stability of the US dollar around the world"

      The US Government can fish that idea all they want, but the rest of the world isn't biting. A disastrous war and a reckless deficit will do that to your reputation (and your currency). The mint should use this time to switch to new high-tech dollars.
  • bbobkins, on 10/12/2007, -18/+1America needs to take a leaf out of Australia's book, as it has the most secure currency in the world. Plastic see-though notes are almost impossible to counterfeit with today's technology.

    http://www.questacon.edu.au/html/plastic_banknotes.html

    • bondbhai, on 10/12/2007, -9/+2We get it. We sill use your currency from now. Happy?
  • Aquillla, on 10/12/2007, -14/+0Why did you double post???

    Hahaha, i guess once in a while they must miss a note, but this is unacceptable =)
    • bbobkins, on 10/12/2007, -3/+12sorry I'm new to posting on dig... it didn't appear to work the first time. :(
  • skellener, on 10/12/2007, -2/+36Happened to me too. Got change back from the Post Office stamp machine...only to find out that one of my Sacagawea dollars wasn't - it was a ***** CHUCKY CHEESE TOKEN!!! The bastards!
  • benmarvin, on 10/12/2007, -9/+2@dlebar04:
    Why are you assuming that "illegal immigrants" have to be of a particular race? There's plenty of different races that may illegally immigrate. You're more of a bigot for assuming they are one race.
    Besides, everyone knows BofA loves illegals.
    • TideBall, on 10/12/2007, -4/+1Wow, listen to you. Who sounds like a bigot now??
  • faskill, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6I received counterfeit money from a bank. I was cashing a check for a grand. The teller laid out 10 $100 bills in front of me. I took the bills, left the bank and went to make a payment to my dad. He noticed one of the bills didn't look kosher. I took the bill back in side and explained the situation to the teller. The teller refused to aid me stating that "we can not reimburse you for false tender". This didn't sit well with me so I requested a manager. The conversation ended with the manager stating that "it's illegal to posess counterfeit currency... bla bla bla.... nothing we can do". Needless to say, I'm no longer with that bank. gg life
    • Wonderkind, on 10/12/2007, -0/+12I think for the sake of a hundred bucks, I'd have to call a reporter or the police.
      The inconvenience to the bank would have made them quickly make an exception to their policy.
    • bwhite, on 10/12/2007, -6/+9"Dad" ... is that what you kids are calling your dealers these days?
    • faskill, on 10/12/2007, -6/+1Your mother... isn't that who the neighborhood is calling for tricks these days?
    • dgolding, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3yeah, thats worth a call to the secret service. You would be out of the bill anyway, and the bank would have USSS crawling up their ass.
  • TheSabre, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5Man, why do people insist on saying "ATM machine"? Strangely enough, the author of this story only uses it some of the time. The rest of the time, he correctly refers to it as an "ATM".

    That is really surprising though - that between the teller and the cashier, there were no problems. I've seen so many people get accused of counterfeiting. Way back when, when I was much younger and in college, I worked at Wal-Mart. I can't recall how many times I've seen LEOs question 80-year-old grandmas that received a counterfeit twenty in the change from their previous shopping trip.

    It's refreshing to see that there is still a glimmer of trust and compassion left in the country. Not everyone that gets stuck in these situations is a criminal and it's nice to see that this person wasn't treated as one.
    • jonathaz, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1disambiguation from other meanings for ATM: Asynchronous Transfer Mode, Ass To Mouth, etc.
    • logic, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2ass to mouth machine? o.0
  • TequilaCollins, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3Actually, the pen you see used to check for counterfeit bills isn't very accurate. It only works on badly made counterfeits. It does this by testing for bleach in the paper. Most paper you use has been bleached white. When I used to be a cashier, I tried the pen on all kinds of paper. About 25% of my experiments showed no black mark.

    The quickest way to determine a counterfeit bill is by feel. Nothing else feels the same as money.
  • sig331, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6The Costco clerk broke a law... It is illegal to knowingly pass counterfeit money. It's cool that they gave it back so the issue could get resolved, but legally they should have kept it.
  • bmeshier, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I'm surprised nobody called the secret service, I'm sure they would have been all over that.
    • ganjadude4391, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1thats what happened to my sister

      she had a fake 20 from a bank and spent it at a stewarts shop (deli)

      an hour later the cops were at my house taking her in to the station


      no proof of anything other than the fact that we own a color copier (which was out of ink at the time... and still is)

      long story short the SS moved in talked to her for like 10 hours and she ended up with youthful offender status and a 400 $ fine

      i really wanna call ***** on this story but i really dont know
  • Empyrean, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2Well thats what you get for using a 2nd rate bank.
  • gappodi, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Go and wipe your ass with it.
  • marcie714, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0sig331 is right.

    the costco employee was not trained properly. the government issues Counterfeit Money Handling & Procedures posters/ notices for the back office - wut a costco nob!
  • XivGNP, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1I actually work at an ATM maintenance/repair call center for a major bank (not BoA), and this sort of thing happens more often than you'd think. Keep in mind that most off-site ATMs are cash serviced by a totally different company than who manufacture/service it or run it (i.e. Brinks, Loomis Fargo), and they suck. Hard. It shouldn't happen, and it DEFINITELY shouldn't happen if the branch replenishes cash themselves, but no matter how many times we complain there's always some issue. Just be lucky the ATM didn't decide to destroy your card or spit blood out at you (rats nest in one of the cassettes, long story).

    Oh, and NCR ATMs suck balls. Diebold are somehow the shining example of semi-reliability when it comes to ATMs not breaking constantly.
    • EsotericBoredom, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I work for one of the companies your mentioned. As for us sucking...we do but not in the way you think. The occasional CF does slip past the armored carrier processing tellers and winds up being loaded into an atm. take into account that on a slow day a large armored carrier processing unit can load well over 25 million into various atm accounts. Some of that currency comes from the FRB, some from recycled funds from the banks atms. (branch teller 20's are usually segregated and not used for atm loads for the very reason of CF's) In the end though you have to blame the vendor for loading the bill.
    • MidnightWatcher, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I've worked on NCR ATMs as well (5877, 5886, 5890e, 6676 models) and have found them to be extremely reliable and upgradeable. I've come across too many problems with Diebolds (hardware and software), and they seem to be very basic compared to NCR.
  • Ibanezfoo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I got one not too long ago from an ATM, lucky the fast food place was cool about it and the other 20 I had (from the same ATM transaction) was fine. A teller (at a military credit union no less!) gave my grandmother a fake 20 a few years ago....

    Makes you wonder if the banks actually check this stuff...
  • mcduckov, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5BoA told my mom that having 3 loans at 10% was like having one loan at 30%. OK, my mom fell for it but should a BANK really tell an old lady that? Luckily my sis is a lawyer and called them but they fought, she got pissed off then and mentioned a possible class action suit, and all the charges were reversed. BoA = scumbags in my book
    • BigSlacker, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0What charges were reversed? I don't get the anecdote.
    • RussellDovey, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Compound interest strikes again!
  • julian02392, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2My bank gave me a counterfeit 100$ bill a year or two ago.
  • TideBall, on 10/12/2007, -0/+28Having been a former bank manager, I know that there are forms to fill out for the secret service. The teller should NOT have done the exchange, however it would be much easier for the bank to do it instead of someone putting up a fight (strictly a judgement call, nonetheless a bad one). The questionaire on the forms may cause some issues, especially dealing with an outsider bringing the bill in however, NOT ONCE did our banking center get as much as a phone call from the SS. Never. I must have turned in bills at least on 4 occassions in 1 year.

    The ATMs that are located in branches are sometimes maintained internally. On an average, a busy location can easily go through over $200K+ in cash between 2 machines per weekend. If one were to refill themselves internally, speed counters are usually used. Not the greatest at detecting counterfeits. I do not believe ATMs themselves have a guard against it. Diebold is a major ATM company, however most times ATMs (standalone) are serviced by contractors. Diebold still would have access to the ATMs, but the cash is filled by an armored service company. In all honesty, I have been in the position to deal with random unpleasant occurances at a banking center (i.e. tax levies, spousal account drainage, death, overdrafts, fraud) and it all depends on the situation on how a manager of a branch handles it.
    • Archeologist, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8Who is digging this man down? He is sharing his experience as a bank manager so you digg him down? Instead, the random jokes unrelated to the actual story get dugg up...
    • EsotericBoredom, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2@tideball
      I work at an armored carrier company that fills atm machines (for BofA by the way). I would not be surprised at the amount of counterfeit bills you've seen as a bank manager. You said there was at least 4 occasions where you sent out fake bills to the SS over the course of a year. My place of employment sends out minimally 15 to 35 bills a week. During Xmas I've seen it peak at 100 notes in a 5 day span. The SS does not track down particular cases but instead looks for trends and patterns of disbursement of a particular kind of fake. (right now the market is flooded with the best CF 50's Ive ever seen.) Once they see a pattern that indicates a major ring or what not they move in to investigate further.

  • DiggzDE, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1I had a counterfeit 20 dollar bill the other day that someone gave me from their bank, Wells Fargo.

    It was entertaining for a little while, but then I ended up just spending it at the local Supermarket. Grabbed it out of my wallet and didn't noticed I had paid with the fake one until I was already back home. Oh well.
  • hunglowang, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9Bank of America gave him a counterfeit $20 and Digg took his site down. Poor guy, what's next.
    • Lennalf, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@flashboy131:

      Actually, the company that maintains the ATM gave him the fake 20. Between the time the company ordered the money from the Fed to the time that the guy took it out of the machine, the bank was never physically involved. Bank of America replaced that fake 20 with a real 20, thus correcting the ATM vendor's mistake. Chances are BoA ate the loss, unless they have some way to pass the buck (bad pun) to the ATM company.
  • JohnEskandarian, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2they asked for a real $20 but gave the fake back?
  • grinch, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Yes, the lady at Costco gave the fake $20 back and said to bring it back to his bank.
  • kirbs2001, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1fool me once, shame on you
  • WinterEdge, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Kudos to BoA for owning up to their mistake.
  • BigSlacker, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I bet this happens all the time. A lot of the ATMs you see in restaurants and stores are filled by the people working there out of the register. I seriously doubt they inspect each bill that closely.
  • mufasa, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Almost the same thing happened to my dad apx. 10 years ago. We were going to Spain on a summer vacation, and he had exchanged money from our bank. When we had been at a restaurant and he had just payed them, they told him it was counterfeit, and he was almost arrested.
  • hkrob, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0In Hong Kong/China - counterfeit currency is a huge problem, this doesn't apply only to notes either!
    We have fake $10 coins too, so, as someone already mentioned, it's very common for vendors to check all the notes they receive.
    From what I've seen, the fake notes are generally designed to look old and abused
  • thugramsey, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I used to work at BofA. this is the wrong way to go at things. feel lucky she just gave you the money. at my branch we would hold your 20 until we make sure you got it out of our atm, and you have your reciet and its sent in to the UST before you can get a refund
  • sdoodle, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I got a fake $100 either from my bank (WaMu in Florida) or during my trip to Vegas at the ATM in the hotel. The casino was even nice enough to replace it for me!!! Guess I'm a good customer, but the paperwork they made me fill out for the Secret Service sure sucked!
  • armourer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Useless fact #24233
    Counterfeit pens only react to wood pulp paper (they use iodine)
    Counterfeit bills using cotton pulp paper (i.e. the only good counterfeits) will pass the test.
    However, copying the inks, watermarks, and embeded strips are close to impossible to duplicate without an almost identical process, which is usually prohibitively expensive, unless you're North Korea.
    • dgolding, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2"state actor" is the term you are looking for. They unleash some mad Juche on the process.
  • shadows88, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1That was such a boring story.
  • po43292, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Why doesn't Costco take Visa/MC again? Cash, checks, and AMEX? wtf..
    • aristotle0dude, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Costco is a member only store. Why haven't you applied for an Amex if you shop there?
  • aristotle0dude, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2A black light should work in determining if it is a fake.

    I remember when a former co-worker received a counterfeit 20 Canadian dollar bill from an ATM and he ended up calling the city Police and was out 20 bucks.
    • aristotle0dude, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Someone dugg me down for what reason?

      http://science.howstuffworks.com/black-light2.htm

      "Law enforcement officers can use them to identify counterfeit money. The United States and many other countries include an invisible fluorescent strip in their larger bills that only shows up under a black light"

      Most bank tellers, store cashiers and currency exchange customer service representatives in Canada have black lights under their tills that they can use to test any large denomination bills that they are handed.

      I was offering legitimate industry knowledge. Take it or leave it.
  • TheBigPoppaJW, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3***** Bank of America
  • idiggurdog, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Yeah, I worked for BofA about 15 years ago and I used to find counterfeits all the time, it's amazing how many there are (were) but I can totally see a teller giving back cash they just took from a previous customer. I'd say you are safer at the ATM ALWAYS. But I do agree with TheBigPoppaJW.
  • firsttube, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I would've deposited it back into the ATM if BofA wouldn't have taken it back.
    Back where ya came from, I say!
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