Bank gave my Mom counterfit money

[MonkeyFinger]

My Mom, who is in her 80s and lives in another state, called me because she "had a little problem" with Chase bank. She lives alone (Dad has been gone for a number of years now) but has all of her faculties and needless to say is very careful with her money. Once a month she goes into her local branch and cashes some check that she gets and turns it into 5 $100 bills. Didn't really understand that why but that's just what she does. It went straight into an envelope and she's not in a habit of personally inspecting every bill that she gets from a teller. Some time later (a week?) she decided to go back and deposit the money at which point the teller found that one of the bills was bogus. When she explained that the bank gave it to her they basically called her a liar because, of course, that kind of stuff can't happen. They have enough faceless tellers that she doesn't remember exactly whom she dealt with the previous trip and the person she thought it was 'remembers her' but won't fess up, I assume for fear of repercussions.

Bottom line they basically told her she was SOL. While $100 may not mean all that much to the bank but it does to her.  In the end she'll probably end up moving all her banking elsewhere but in the meantime, what kind of recourse does she have here? The local management at her branch were absolutely no help. She still has the bill, for whatever that is worth.

[kratz]

Police.

[rickfc]

Go talk to the branch manager.  If that doesn't work, send an email to the Chase executives.

[rshetts2]

there's alot of strange in your story.  1st off chase holds all checks so normally the checks would be deposited and held for a couple of days to clear.  They don't generally cash checks, even ones drawn on a chase account without a hold, unless they are verified payroll or government checks.  They can give cash back if her account can cover it but she should then have a receipt with the tellers # on it.  Also it's standard procedure when counterfiet bills are presented to confiscate the bill and report to the authorities, at chase not doing so is a fireable offence for the teller.  Some things dont add up here. 

[MonkeyFinger]

It may very well have been a gov't check, I'll have to ask. She says she does this once a month, for whatever that is worth so it's not like it was the first time she's done this with them. And yah, I was a little surprised when she said she still had the bill, I would have expected them... one of the several "thems" she talked to that day... to have confiscated it. 

[rshetts2]

Im really curious about the teller now.  My girlfriend is a personal banker for Chase and she says there a lot unusual going on here.  One thing she has heard of,  is in a rush a teller may accidently take a counterfeit bill, they then later check it  ( as they are supposed to with every large bill ) only to find its bogus.  This is a serious breach for the teller and can cause suspension or even termination, so the teller hides the bill until they can slip it off on an unsuspecting customer.  Im sorry for your Mom she may have been taken advantage of.  As Rickfc stated she needs to go up the ladder and it probably would be best if she had someone there to support her. 

[Mithridates]

there's alot of strange in your story.  1st off chase holds all checks so normally the checks would be deposited and held for a couple of days to clear.  They don't generally cash checks, even ones drawn on a chase account without a hold, unless they are verified payroll or government checks.  They can give cash back if her account can cover it but she should then have a receipt with the tellers # on it. 

I just cashed a check today for $200 at Chase and I didn't get a receipt, nor was I offered one.

[rshetts2]

what kind of check?

[Alefroth]

I hope that your mom doesn't think other banks would have any different policies. What do you think the bank should do?

Ale

[MonkeyFinger]

I hope that your mom doesn't think other banks would have any different policies. What do you think the bank should do?

I know what you're saying but how about not treating her like the criminal and a liar for starters?

I was pondering the same situation that rshetts2 mentioned with the teller, pawning off their mistake on the first unsuspecting old lady that came in afterwards. She knows where it came from but there's no way to prove that. There was no receipt involved, but what's their motivation for giving her one at the same time they are unloading the bogus bill?

It's hard for me to just let this go... I'll see about getting dates/times from her and see what someone further up the food-chain thinks. She has no computer and wants to write a letter but I think I'll try an email on her behalf first.

[EngineNo9]

I would say let her go ahead with writing and sending the real letter(s).  They have a way of getting noticed these days when email is easier to ignore or skim.

Also, I would expect that if this was seriously being looked into they would have security footage to at least find out which teller made the transaction.  I don't know much about bank security or how long they keep footage around (systems I have seen "recycle" hard drive space after a week or three), so it may not be available any more.  It surprises me they didn't get the police involved.

[MonkeyFinger]

I would say let her go ahead with writing and sending the real letter(s).  They have a way of getting noticed these days when email is easier to ignore or skim.

Funny, she said as much when we talked. Perhaps I shall just get the information for her and let her have a go at it.

[Caine]

it's hard to side with the bank when it's fighting elderly, so i would go to the media if you get the run-around.  i hate to go that route, but as the bank has very little to trust you on, they upper management will be hesitant to believe you without some form of proof.  even with a good video of her and knowing who the teller was, they will be suspicious of her story, and yours too for that matter.  tbh, they have no reason to trust you vs anyone else who would claim the same thing as i wouldn't put it past a shady person to involve family in such a way.  that doesn't give them the instant out though, and it might be better for their image to take the fake and just play nice.  now, if they have had more than one incident involving the same teller, they will be more likely to believe her and will treat this as an internal problem.

one thing that shouldn't trouble you is the receipt though.  if she knows about when she went, they will have the record of that transaction and who handled it. 

good luck and don't give up.

[Kagath]

Local TV station would have a ball with it. A little bad publicity on there does wonders for lots of places.

[Punisher]

I have had this happen to me and even after talking with the branch manager, they basically said there was nothing they could do.
Mine was a lot shorter time frame as well...
Went to bank, pulled cash, went to a fast food place to buy food, gave cash, THEY found out it was fake, went right back to bank.... all in the span of 20 minutes... They basically said the same thing... once you leave we have no way of knowing what you possibly did outside...
Called corporate and same story... They said it is my responsibility to leave before I check the teller area..... It was the bank where my job it's account so I had to stay with them for a while, but I took extra long checking every bill... pissed some people off, but I just kept telling customers the story and said tuff I am checking...