Okay I was running around this morning and I stopped into the bank to deposit $510 bucks into my account.
The teller quickly asked me to initial the only $100 in the deposit (which made me suspicious as that has never happened to me before). Then she left and came back and said that it was a fake and that she was seizing it, and it would not be honored or deposited into my account and that it was going to be sent to the federal government for verification.
So I asked her for proof that she has my $100 bill and she made a photocopy of the front and back and signed/initialed the photocopy and then stamped it with her teller stamp and the bank stamp.
I proceeded to make notes of the information that she was (reluctantly) giving me on the photocopy (so I wouldn't forget or twist up facts after the fact).
Basically what she told me is that they have to send the bill to the federal government to verify if it is a real or fake bill. Then if it was real the bank would deposit the $100 into my account. Otherwise I am SOL. And it should take approximately 3 weeks to get an answer.
But my questions to you guys (since the are a lot of you on here in a wide variety of careers) is:
Has this ever happened to any of you? If so, what was the outcome?
Any tips or recommendations on what I should do now?
Do any of you work in a bank/financial institution that know the proper procedure for something like this?
Are banks required to record individual bill serial numbers to show that they had possession of the bill at one point in time?
I got this bill from another bank (most likely Wachovia), so if it is indeed fake I want to know how to track down the history of this bill to find out what bank had it and go to them and have them reimburse me for paying me with a fake bill.
To be honest, I highly doubt it was a fake bill. I could see the bar code from across the window and the counterfeit pen she used did not say it was a fake bill either. I couldn't see the blue and red hairs from across the window so I can't confirm or deny if they were present.
I am mostly pissed about the arrogant attitude that this teller was giving me. She was treating me like I just printed the damn thing up in the parking lot or something.
She was being extremely vague in answering my questions on what I should do next. She was reluctant to give me any proof (at first) that I even handed her the bill. Until I insisted that she had to give me something showing that she has my $100, for all I know she planned on pocketing the cash after claiming it was a fake and I was suppose to just say "umm...okay". That is a rare possibility I know, I am just using that as an example of how she was acting.
So any information you guys can give me would be appreciated.
i would have asked to speak to a bank manager right when she stated it was fake, who knows if she was trying to get some cash on the side. when she ran the marker over it what color did it show up? if brown then it is real if black then it is fake. i would go back asap and talk to a manager and tell them that its ridiculous to hold 100 of your money in these times. i would also explain to them that if you were trying to pass off a counterfeit bill, why would you bring it to the bank which is trained to tell if the bill is fake.
Greg, I was in banking for 12 years.
Here's what happens. They send the bill to the nearest secret service office.
If the bill is counterfeit, they keep the bill. If it's real they will send it back to you or just deposit it into your account. If the teller was nice, she could've spent a few extra minutes to call the local secret service to read the serial number of the bill. Sometimes the secret service can tell if it's fake or not by the serial number, but not always.
Counterfeit pens don't always work.
The form that they fill out is a universal secret service form that all banks use.
You're not going to get into any trouble for having the bill if it was fake. They just want to get it out of circulation and find out if you knew where you got it from.
If you have any more questions, please let me know.
Counterfeits are usually easy to spot because they feel funny and most of them don't have the tiny blue and red threads that real bills have.
The teller followed procedure and it's highly unlikely that she pocketed the bill considering cameras are everywhere inside the bank and her co-workers were there.
Last edited by friend088 : 09-05-2009 at 01:39 PM.
The bill had the "USA 100" bar code on it. And the pen she used showed the normal yellow'ish color, not black. I "wasn't allowed" to look at it again to check for the blue and red hairs.
I am not worried about getting in trouble at all, I just want my $100 back. realistically "if" I was dumb enough to print up a bill AND bring it to a bank, I certainly can't see anyone being stupid enough to argue with the teller and make a scene. I also don't think she was trying to steal the bill from me at all, I made sure everyone knew I was there and what was going on
The bill had the "USA 100" bar code on it. And the pen she used showed the normal yellow'ish color, not black. I "wasn't allowed" to look at it again to check for the blue and red hairs.
I am not worried about getting in trouble at all, I just want my $100 back. realistically "if" I was dumb enough to print up a bill AND bring it to a bank, I certainly can't see anyone being stupid enough to argue with the teller and make a scene. I also don't think she was trying to steal the bill from me at all, I made sure everyone knew I was there and what was going on
The bill had the "USA 100" bar code on it. And the pen she used showed the normal yellow'ish color, not black. I "wasn't allowed" to look at it again to check for the blue and red hairs.
I am not worried about getting in trouble at all, I just want my $100 back. realistically "if" I was dumb enough to print up a bill AND bring it to a bank, I certainly can't see anyone being stupid enough to argue with the teller and make a scene. I also don't think she was trying to steal the bill from me at all, I made sure everyone knew I was there and what was going on
There is a plastic strip inside. My wife said the only way to tell if it is the proper strip is if you rip it. Otherwise it could be printed inside the bill but no strip exist.
To the OP: It also has a certain smell and texture. They also have a money counting machine that can detect fake bills.
There is a plastic strip inside. My wife said the only way to tell if it is the proper strip is if you rip it. Otherwise it could be printed inside the bill but no strip exist.
To the OP: It also has a certain smell and texture. They also have a money counting machine that can detect fake bills.
Kris
Oh that.
There was a paper posted around the casino that I worked in that explained how people were making counterfeit money and it still appearing to be real using the marker. The people were bleaching bills and reprinting higher denoms. The only way to tell the difference for us was the placement of the strip inside the bill. Each denom has a different place for the strip.
There was a paper posted around the casino that I worked in that explained how people were making counterfeit money and it still appearing to be real using the marker. The people were bleaching bills and reprinting higher denoms. The only way to tell the difference for us was the placement of the strip inside the bill. Each denom has a different place for the strip.
Smart! There was a ring of counterfieting busted here in Wichita Falls. Probably didn't originate from here though. My wife said it's been all denoms lately (except $1)
She did say that the bank should have been a little more open with the money and allowed the OP to look at the bill. This is how they do it at her bank though. And they are obligated to confiscate it because they have to take it out of circulation.
Smart! There was a ring of counterfieting busted here in Wichita Falls. Probably didn't originate from here though. My wife said it's been all denoms lately (except $1)
She did say that the bank should have been a little more open with the money and allowed the OP to look at the bill. This is how they do it at her bank though. And they are obligated to confiscate it because they have to take it out of circulation.
Kris
That makes sense. It wouldn't make sense to give it back to the person, it would just get used somewhere else, thus keeping it in circulation.
OP seems angered with his bank when he should be angered with the person or bank who originally gave him the bill.
to imply that a bank employee would risk federal imprisonment over $100 is ludicrous.
I am "angered" in general because this bill came from a different bank of mine. So if this bill is fake, I want to know why the first bank (the one that issued it to me) paid me with a fake bill??
I am "angered" in general because this bill came from a different bank of mine. So if this bill is fake, I want to know why the first bank (the one that issued it to me) paid me with a fake bill??
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Bank just seized my $100 bill - now what?
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