By Garwin Davis, Staff Reporter
WESTERN BUREAU:
A CUSTOMER'S claim to have received a counterfeit $1,000 bill from an Automated Teller Machine (ATM) has baffled authorities at the Bank of Jamaica (BoJ) who insist the machines cannot disperse fraudulent notes.
According to Norbert Bryan, director of currency at BoJ, the ATMs across the island were "intelligence-driven" and were designed to detect counterfeit notes.
"From what I know about the ATMs, I don't believe the alleged counterfeit note came from there," Mr. Bryan said. "We would be breaking new ground here. There has never been a documented case of ATMs dispersing counterfeit money. The machine, which is designed to read features, verifies all the notes before issuing them," he said.
But Angela Afflick, teacher and resident of Ocho Rios, is adamant her withdrawal of several thousand dollars from the ATM at the local CIBC bank on Main Street last Friday resulted in her receiving a counterfeit $1,000 note.
According to Ms. Afflick, after leaving the bank, she went directly to the nearby Courts furniture store to make a payment on an account. In giving the store clerk the money, it was discovered one of the notes was bad.
"I was both shocked and embarrassed," Miss Afflick said. "The only money I had in my possession was what I got from the ATM and I did not stop anywhere else. If the store attendant hadn't pointed out to me that the money was bad, I doubt if I would have realised it."
Miss Afflick said she went back to the bank and explained the situation to one of the supervisors. After nearly 30 minutes of consulting with other managers, the bank's employee apologised to Miss Afflick and gave her a bona fide $1,000 note.
"I am grateful for the way they handled it but this has to be serious cause for concern," she said. "Innocent people could get hurt. One doesn't expect to go to an ATM and receive counterfeit money."
Manager of the CIBC Ocho Rios branch, George Blake, said his bank had no way of knowing whether Miss Afflick got the money from their ATM but decided to grant her the benefit of the doubt. However, unlike the BoJ officer, he was not as definite the money could not have come from the ATM.
"We are not saying that it couldn't have happened," he said. "What I am saying is that we are not exactly sure what took place but for the sake of good customer relations we decided to replace the money. Sometimes it is much better to lose $1,000 than to damage a relationship," he said.
"We do not have a problem here with counterfeit money so there is no cause for alarm. We do receive some from time to time but we are very vigilant in our detection of them," Mr. Blake said.
