“I went to an ATM to withdraw money and from the 20 pieces dispensed by the machine, 2 were found to be fake. I went to the banks and explained to the customer care officer and they told me they were not in position to help me because I had no proof that the fake money was actually picked from their ATM”, complained a customer of Top bank in Uganda.
This customer is not alone. Cases of fake notes being issued by Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) are on the rise in the Country, with most of these cases reported whereas others are not reported.
Customers claim that even if they report such incidences to the Banks they are not helped at all because they have no evidence to hold the Bank accountable to the counterfeit notes.
When you go to a bank, the instruction displayed on the counters is, “check and count your money before you leave the bank. However in the case of ATM, there is no attendant to whom you can complain in case of a fake note being issued by the machine.
Because of lack of evidence by customers, banks are not willing to accept responsibility for the counterfeit notes issued by their ATMs and therefore have to bear with the losses.
Asked how counterfeit notes get into ATMs, a staff from a top Bank in the country, who preferred anonymity, said, at times the custodians charged with loading ATMs with cash are the first culprits and are the initiators of such unprofessional behaviors.
“They connive with counterfeit makers to have a safe passage of fake money through the machines. When the deal is complete, the custodian and the fake money makers then share the proceeds. These custodians have made it a business to load fake notes in ATMs”, he said
Other banks have vehemently denied knowledge of the source of the counterfeit notes despite being picked from their own branch ATMs.