Such an incident is quite possible, and it happens even to the largest banks, which, however, do not want to admit the likelihood of such an incident. But how can counterfeit bills end up in an ATM? Who puts them there? And what should you do if you come across a counterfeit bill among other money withdrawn from the card at the terminal device?

Facts of receiving counterfeits from ATMs are recorded regularly. Counterfeit banknotes with a face value of 5 thousand rubles were found in ATMs of such serious credit institutions as Sberbank, Bank of Moscow, Alfa-Bank and RosinterBank. Among the counterfeits, there were even some that did not at all resemble real money, such as, for example, a 500-ruble note from the “Bank of Jokes”, issued by a device of the Bank of Moscow. The Sberbank ATM “pleased” with a bill with an image of Odessa instead of Khabarovsk. At the same time, it took Sberbank two and a half months to examine and confirm that Odessa was depicted after all!

Most often, incidents occur involving higher denomination banknotes. And this is understandable - it is more profitable for scammers to deal with big money. Although the fakes are not so perfect as to mislead the cashier or deceive the counting machine. However, there has not been a single case where the bank compensated the card holder for losses when receiving a counterfeit from an ATM.

Four-way check

It is difficult to say how counterfeit bills end up in an ATM, because on the way from the bank, the money goes through verification and recalculation procedures, precisely aimed at eliminating the possibility of forgery.

The Bank of Russia has established regulations for processing cash, which is loaded into ATMs and transferred to cash terminals. According to the 2008 regulation, all financial institutions are required to process banknotes: sort them into old ones and those suitable for circulation, and also check them for several machine-readable characteristics. From the list of security features established by the regulations of the Central Bank, banknotes must be checked using at least four of them.

Counting and checking cash is carried out by people - bank employees and counting and sorting machines - currency validators. Machines count the number of banknotes and check their authenticity using security marks. Cashiers perform a visual check of each banknote. Then the money is placed in cassettes according to their denominations. The employees always work together, and the process itself is recorded on camera.

The collectors (also two) take the sealed cassettes, go to the ATM and make a replacement: they take out the cassettes located there from the lower compartment of the device (safe) and insert the ones they brought with them. The cassettes removed from the ATM are taken to the bank, where the whole procedure is repeated. After verification and recounting, the money is sent to the bank vault.

At ATM terminals, users deposit cash in sheets, and accepted money is issued to customers without a bank verification step. Therefore, the requirements of the Bank of Russia provide for equipping such devices with devices for determining machine-readable security features (at least four). So the ATM does not accept counterfeit bills because it must recognize them immediately.

Cashier under suspicion

If the regulations of the described procedure are not violated, then at the bank’s cash desk the counterfeit banknote will be detected by the counting and sorting machine. Then we can assume only one way for a fake to get into the cassette. Namely, the illegal actions of a bank employee at the recounting desk, who filled out and sealed the cassettes. In practice, this most likely happened in any bank, but the number of such frauds is insignificant compared to the number of client transactions.

In addition to the fraudulent actions of the cashier, the reason for the receipt of counterfeits at the ATM may be an error in rejecting banknotes due to the inattention of employees or a general lack of verification of accepted cash. Unless, of course, the client mixed up something and received a counterfeit bill in some other place.

Assuming that the injured cardholder is not mistaken and received the candy wrapper at the ATM, the cashier should be found guilty. He either deliberately missed the counterfeit note or was negligent. Only such an assumption somehow does not fit in with the strictest control over the verification process. Violations could be easily detected from the video recording.

But the cashier of a retail outlet may well miss a high-quality fake. Nothing unusual will be recorded on the video recording of the counting and loading of cash into the tapes. If you do not check carefully at the bank counter, counterfeit money will end up in the terminal device. Therefore, even if the client makes a claim to the bank, they are unlikely to believe him - after all, in the video recordings everything looks normal.

Sberbank states that over many years of servicing terminal devices there has not been a single case of detection of non-payment bills in them. The bank uses machines from different manufacturers, but the process of loading money into cassettes in all ATM models eliminates the possibility of counterfeit banknotes entering the dispenser.

At the same time, today the device software does not provide for recording the numbers of issued banknotes, which means that the possibility of receiving a counterfeit from an ATM cannot be categorically denied. The client, of course, can contact the bank branch with a written statement of the problem, indicating the banknote number and the date of the transaction. The credit institution will check the records of the processes of counting money and filling out cassettes.

Will there be compensation?

When a victim writes a complaint to the bank, the latter begins an internal investigation to establish the details of the incident, identify the causes and culprits, and takes measures to prevent similar violations in the future. This is a so-called operational risk event, which occurs extremely rarely in banking practice. It is being investigated with the participation of all departments: security service, operations department, business, IT, etc. All video recordings of the ATM, its logging files and other internal information are checked and studied. Banking specialists define the probability of such an event as one case in several million transactions.

Each case of an injured client’s complaint is unique, which means the outcome of the complaint will also be individual. The bank's task is to study a specific case and find a solution to the problem for the user and for the organization itself. If the client’s situation is sufficiently transparent and clear, then he has a chance of having his claim satisfied.

Another option for obtaining a counterfeit exists when using cash recycling machines, in which the cash is in a closed cycle. The ATM will issue a counterfeit bill to an unsuspecting user if the fraudsters have previously loaded it into the machine. We are talking about outdated models of self-service devices that are not equipped with validators. Although scammers have learned to deceive secure ATMs. Because of this, many banks at the end of 2013 were forced to stop accepting banknotes in denominations of 5 thousand rubles in their terminal devices.

Although closed-circuit ATMs are more advanced and reliable, banks are not yet in a hurry to introduce them widely. For example, at Alfa-Bank, out of the existing 3,600 ATMs, only 600 have a closed cycle. But Sberbank does not use such ATMs at all, although most of the known incidents of receiving counterfeit money occur precisely with its terminals.

Unfortunately, it is impossible to give any advice to victims of deception. Even if the user immediately notices a “candy wrapper” among the issued banknotes, it will be very difficult, if not impossible, to prove its origin from the ATM. The only thing that needs to be done immediately, as they say, without leaving the cash register, is to call the police to record the case and write a statement about the fact. You shouldn’t hopelessly brush aside contacting the bank - suddenly the issue will be resolved in favor of the victim.

Any bank will accept a counterfeit bill and issue a certificate, but will not replace it with real money. The desire to get rid of a counterfeit is quite understandable, but it is categorically not recommended to try to pay with it anywhere. Here the victim can move into the opposite category and become a violator of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation under the article on the manufacture and sale of counterfeit money.

The ATM scans only certain, most secure areas of banknotes. In addition, many ATMs are not fully equipped to conduct legally required inspections. As a result, scammers manage to insert a counterfeit banknote into the terminal, causing law-abiding citizens of Russia to suffer. But there is no need to despair: if you quickly contact the bank after discovering a fake, in most cases the bank will accommodate the client halfway.

The ATM checks money in a very fast mode: often people put whole stacks of banknotes into the bill acceptor, after which, within a few seconds, the ATM checks everything and reports whether they were loaded successfully. Of course, with such processing speed, it is simply unrealistic to detect all counterfeit banknotes.

Therefore, depending on the circumstances, an ATM may accept a counterfeit bill, and it does not matter whether the terminal belongs to Sberbank or a small bank. True, this happens in most cases with hundred-ruble bills or denominations of 200-500 rubles. The methods for checking thousand-dollar bills at ATMs are much more serious.

But even with hundred-ruble bills, the “trick” is not always successful: if the scammers don’t bother to put at least some of the security marks on the banknote (for example, a foil thread), the ATM will simply give the bill back. In the case of banknotes of larger denominations, this almost always happens.

For some reason, it is believed that when an ATM detects a counterfeit, it automatically sends a signal to the bank’s central administration. In fact, the ATM considers the bill not counterfeit, but invalid - the banknote can become a bearer of this status simply due to excessive wear, mechanical damage, etc.

Therefore, if you inserted money into a bill acceptor and one of them turned out to be counterfeit, do not panic - no one will call the police. This is good because... In such a situation, it is advisable for you to contact law enforcement agencies first, thereby ensuring yourself at least minimal legal protection.

How does the terminal detect a fake?

The ATM determines whether a banknote is counterfeit using two tools:

• A laser that responds to the size of the banknote. So, for example, if a 100 ruble bill inserted into the terminal turns out to be significantly smaller or larger than it should be, the ATM will consider it invalid;
• Ultraviolet light. It reads all the security features that are present on the banknote: the foil thread and the engraving of numbers on it, small multi-colored stripes, as if scattered across the banknote, holograms, etc.;
• Scans for magnetic field. Each large banknote (1000, 2000 and 5000 rubles) acquires its own magnetic mark during the creation process - it is extremely difficult to counterfeit, so it is necessary for mutual settlements involving large amounts. Most ATMs have such a reader, but, unfortunately, not all.

At the same time, the laser and ultraviolet light scan only certain areas of the banknote, which is often used by scammers: if you know the location of these zones, you can glue together bills of different denominations (for example, 100 and 5,000 rubles) and insert them into the ATM under the guise of the largest banknote.

The ATM will automatically check the areas where the 5,000 ruble elements have been prudently pasted and consider it an original. As a result, scammers can make several such “banknotes” from one single large denomination bill.

Can an ATM give out a counterfeit bill?

As we have already discussed above, yes, the terminal can produce a fake. Since fraudsters annually manage to load tens of millions of counterfeit rubles into self-service machines, their issuance occurs just as often.

The reason for such a significant stuffing is simple negligence or excessive savings: not all ATMs have a sufficient degree of security; many do not have a magnetic tag scanner. This applies even to the largest banks in Russia like Sberbank, VTB and the like - however, large organizations try not to skimp on terminals, so the number of scandals they have is relatively small.

And although the answer to the question of whether an ATM can give out a counterfeit 5,000 ruble bill has been found, not everything is so simple: money must be checked before it is issued to “ordinary people.” So, the money first comes from the bank vault, fresh bundles of bills are opened by bank specialists, counted and visually checked for integrity and absence of defects. Then the funds are placed in special cassettes and sealed. At the same time, all the actions of the specialists are recorded by a video camera.

According to the requirement of the Bank of Russia 318 P dated April 24, 2008, cash issued by terminals must first be checked by specialists at the bank. In this case, the process must involve reading machines that automatically check banknotes for suitability for circulation.

Summarizing all of the above, in theory, the number of counterfeit bills issued by terminals should have been reduced to zero. However, the presence of the human factor among banking specialists, as well as the growing sophistication of fraudsters, ultimately led to the spread of counterfeits.

What to do if the ATM dispenses a counterfeit bill?

If this happens, the first thing you need to remember is that under no circumstances try to insert the bill back into the terminal. If you fail, all responsibility for violating the law will fall on you, and a retaliatory attempt to prove your innocence may take many months of litigation.

Next, look at your watch and remember the time the bill was issued - this will be needed to submit an application to the bank. Also remember the address of the branch or ATM location where you received the counterfeit. Keep the banknote with you, preferably in the same form in which it was when issued.

Go to the nearest bank branch and write a written complaint. It must be compiled in two copies, each of them must bear the signature of a bank employee and the seal of the organization.

The claim should indicate:

• Denomination of the counterfeit banknote, its serial number;
• Address of the terminal that issued the fake;
• Cash withdrawal time;
• If it so happens that the withdrawal of money took place in front of witnesses, indicate them in the claim;

Be sure to ask employees in writing to preserve CCTV footage. The thing is that many banks keep records for 48 or 72 hours. If no one asks to keep them, bank employees simply delete them to free up space on their hard drives. In turn, a record of your stay at the branch when you withdrew money can play a decisive role in a possible trial.

In most cases, the bank tries to quickly “hush up the matter” by satisfying the client’s demands. With rare exceptions, admitting a mistake and exchanging a counterfeit for an original banknote can take a long time, in which case you should contact the police.

To help the investigation, the same data is needed - the time of cashing, the address, the counterfeit bill itself and recordings from video cameras, so this is where the instructions end: the police will advise all further actions.

The ATM issued a counterfeit bill - such incidents are extremely rare, and, as a rule, credit institutions do not tell the general public about this. It seems incredible, but even large and reputable banks come across counterfeit bills. How do counterfeits get into an ATM, and most importantly, how to avoid this fate?

Instead of money - a bookmark

According to statistics, counterfeits were encountered from time to time in both Sberbank and Alfa-Bank. These were mainly large denomination bills - from 5,000 rubles, which were obtained by customers at an ATM.

There were also funny situations when one of the Sberbank users withdrew a large amount of money through an ATM, but on one of the bills, instead of the usual image of Khabarovsk, he saw the Odessa Opera House! The user waited about 3 months for official confirmation from the bank that it was in fact a fake. Another client of the Bank of Moscow was given not a 500 ruble bill, but a bookmark, which is very difficult to confuse with the original.

These and similar stories have the same ending: users were convinced that the ATM could issue counterfeit bills, but it was almost impossible to receive compensation for losses. All counterfeits, as a rule, were of the highest denomination, since counterfeiting banknotes of 50 or 100 rubles is unprofitable. In addition, the question arises, how did the cashiers and counting machines not see the counterfeit? Agree, confusing money with bookmarks is really not easy.

How is money checked?

It is difficult to imagine how counterfeit banknotes ended up in reputable banks, because these institutions spend a lot of money to protect themselves from such situations. Money begins its journey to the ATM from a bank vault. First, bundles of banknotes are opened by cashiers, they are visually inspected, and counted using a banknote detector, which, among other things, checks the authenticity of the money. Next, money of the same denomination is sealed in special cassettes. All transactions with banknotes, which are carried out by 2 cashiers, are recorded by a video camera.

Regulation of the Bank of Russia number 318 P dated April 24, 08 “On the procedure for conducting cash transactions and the rules for storage, transportation and collection of banknotes and coins of the Bank of Russia in credit institutions on the territory of the Russian Federation” states that cash for ATMs must pass processing in a credit institution, with the participation of sorting and counting machines that sort banknotes into those suitable and unsuitable for circulation. These same machines detect counterfeits, if any, using security marks that only a machine can read. There are 4 characters in total, and their mandatory verification is prescribed in the regulations of the Bank of Russia.

The sealed cassettes are brought to the ATM by collectors. They take the cassettes available there from the lower compartment of the safe and take them to the bank, where cashiers count them before sending the money to the vault.

Who is to blame and what to do if you received counterfeit money?

It turns out that replacing a banknote with a counterfeit one is a fraud by a bank employee, that is, a cashier. Vice-presidents and directors of bank payment services agree that the human factor does exist, and illegal actions can be committed by an employee of any bank. But, nevertheless, in comparison with customer transactions, these cases cannot even be included in the statistics, because there are too few of them. This is rather a statistical error.

The cashier's work is monitored and checked, and even if we assume that the fraud scheme is working, it is easy to check.

If bank clients claim that they have received counterfeit bills from ATMs, they have the right to contact the bank branch and file a claim, where they must indicate the date of receipt of the money and the US number. In response to the claim, control checks will be carried out, namely: reviewing the process of recalculating cassettes to identify worn-out and banknotes suitable for monetary circulation. In addition, a thorough investigation is carried out to establish the details of the event, identify possible risks, those responsible, and the causes of the incident.

If the situation that happened to the client is transparent, then there is a chance for a positive outcome for him.

So, the step-by-step instructions for detecting a fake are as follows:

1. Without leaving the ATM, call the bank security guard, who will record the issuance of a counterfeit bill and coordinate further actions. Write down the ATM number.

2. Contact your bank immediately. Make a written claim in duplicate, in which do not forget to indicate the date and time of the incident, the number of the US (self-service device, ATM, in other words), and also demand compensation for losses. Make sure that the bank employee signs both copies. Ask to save the CCTV footage - some banks only keep the footage for 48 hours, and then it will be more difficult to prove that you received a fake.

3. Based on your application, the bank must carry out an inspection; this is a lengthy process, in which many structural divisions of the organization are involved. During the investigation, details will be established, possible culprits will be identified, and risks will be assessed.

5. You can receive compensation in the amount of the full value of the bill, but, unfortunately, such an outcome is extremely rare. If the bank refuses to meet you halfway, write a statement to the police on the same day. If the case goes to court, this will be additional evidence that you are right.

Bottom line

Can an ATM give out a counterfeit bill? The answer is yes, but it is extremely difficult to prove that a bank client has actually become a victim of criminals. In any case, never try to pay with a counterfeit, as you may be subject to criminal liability under Article 186 (counterfeiting and sale of counterfeit money).

Counterfeit money must be taken to the bank, where it will be accepted and you will be given a certificate with the appropriate content.

First Deputy Chairman of the Bank of Russia Georgy Luntovsky announced increase in counterfeit banknotes at ATMs. The reason is that banks use outdated and cheaper models of banknote-accepting devices, which are only capable of checking one or two security features.

Back in 2013, Russian banks were required to operate ATMs that check banknotes for at least four machine-readable security features (magnetic tags, luminescence of individual elements under the influence of ultraviolet and infrared radiation). However, many banks continue to operate ATMs that cannot distinguish counterfeit money from real money.

We'll tell you what to do if the ATM gives you a counterfeit bill (1000, 5000 or another)

1. Contact us as soon as possible nearest bank branch: write a written claim in two copies demanding compensation for losses (be sure to write, do not engage in conversations or correspondence by e-mail).

It is important that both copies are signed by a bank employee

What to write in a complaint:

• ATM address;
• withdrawal time;
• if there is - data from witnesses;
• number of the counterfeit banknote issued;
• be sure to ask to save the recording from CCTV cameras - in some banks it is stored for only 48 hours (if you do not ask to save the video recording, then in court the bank may declare that the storage period has expired and it will be more difficult for you to prove that you received a fake).

2. You can write about your story in social networks (on the bank’s page): Usually, banks monitor such messages and may become more accommodating and speed up the refund process.

Financial security is one of the most important problems of our time. Each participant in financial transactions wants his payments to be made on time and on time, and access to his funds to be as secure as possible and possible only for the owner of the deposit or account. And although many payments are made in non-cash form, payments with banknotes have also not lost their relevance.

The main threat to individuals or legal entities is receiving counterfeit currency. How can she get into her hands? Can an ATM accept a counterfeit bill or issue one?

What banknotes are most often counterfeited at ATMs?

When answering the question whether an ATM will accept a counterfeit bill, it is worth determining which currency denomination is most often counterfeited in Russia. Among counterfeiters, money in denominations of 5,000 rubles holds the lead, although they have the maximum level of protection. When checking their authenticity, special devices “pay attention” to:

• laser microperforation;
• security thread;
• combined watermarks;
• rainbow stripes;
• hidden characters;
• kipp effect, etc.

However, given the interest of fraudsters in counterfeiting money, ATM manufacturers are also equipping their machines with security features. When scanning the currency, they pay attention to every detail, right down to the relief. ATMs may not even accept a real bill if it is worn out or has some defects (inscriptions, mechanical damage).

What happens if you put a counterfeit bill into an ATM? The machine, most likely, simply will not accept it and will push it out of the receiver if the fake is not of very high quality. But security programs are more tuned to detect counterfeit money in large denominations (1000 and 5000 rubles). This means that it will be much easier to push counterfeit “change” (denomination from 10 to 100 rubles) into an ATM. Fortunately, small currency is counterfeited extremely rarely, since it is unprofitable.

How then do fakes get into the machines of credit institutions?

In most cases, the answer to the question of whether an ATM recognizes counterfeit bills is yes. However, in October 2013, an outrageous incident occurred: several thousand copies of counterfeit money in denominations of 500, 1000 and 5000 rubles were discovered in St. Petersburg and Moscow. The counterfeit currency was made extremely crudely, and visually anyone could understand that this was not real money. But ATMs were powerless: the paper currency contained all the signs of authenticity, which the machine checked.

ATM services in the country's largest credit institutions (Sberbank, VTB24, Alfa Bank) were suspended after this incident in order to urgently update the software and strengthen protection. And although employees of financial companies unanimously claim that it is impossible to obtain counterfeit funds from their equipment, the opposite can sometimes be seen.

Does the ATM accept counterfeit money? If this is an old-style device whose security programs have not been updated for a long time, then yes, it may well accept a fake. It is safer to pay at cash desks, where a bank employee and special equipment jointly determine the authenticity of currency.

Stages of loading cash into ATMs by cashiers

Before the owner of the plastic card receives his money from the banking machine, the procedure of loading cash into his special cassettes takes place. How does this happen?

1. Sealed bundles of cash are delivered from the bank vault to credit institutions.
2. Cashiers, having received them, count them using a banknote counter.
3. Once the number of banknotes has been established, verification of their authenticity begins. Cashiers detect counterfeits both visually and with the help of special equipment that records the presence or absence of security features.
4. Next, cash of one denomination is placed in separate cassettes (i.e., bills of 5,000 rubles are placed in one cassette, and notes of 1,000 rubles are placed in another), after which the procedure for their typing occurs.
5. The entire process is monitored by video recording. In addition, when loading cash into cassettes, the presence of two cashiers is mandatory in order to avoid possible criminal actions on their part.
6. Afterwards, the cassettes are handed over to collectors, who must load them into ATMs. When opening the equipment safe, two employees (also to avoid fraudulent actions on their part) unload old cassettes and load new ones.
7. Empty (fully or partially) ATM cassettes are opened by cashiers, the bills located there are counted and sent back to the bank vault.

Not only domestic, but also foreign currency undergoes a similar procedure. But how does an ATM determine the authenticity of a bill? Additional protection against counterfeits is provided by the equipment software, which must recognize real money by at least 4 signs of authenticity. Therefore, it is extremely doubtful that counterfeit banknotes got into the “insides” of the equipment from the bank. Fake paper money is most often obtained from terminals that not only issue, but also receive cash, since the security programs may be imperfect.

Therefore, it is better to withdraw funds from ATMs that only issue banknotes. The chance of getting a fake there is lower and almost impossible.

What to do if you find a counterfeit bill in your wallet

Unfortunately, it is very difficult to prove that a counterfeit banknote was issued by a specific ATM. Even existing video surveillance systems will not help: the images they capture will be too small. It is not always possible to recognize even a person’s face in the recordings, not to mention the image of cash.

If you find a counterfeit bill in your wallet, you must:

1. Stop her money circulation. You should not try to buy anything with it: selling counterfeit money is a crime under Art. 186 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. The punishment for selling counterfeit banknotes is a fine of up to 1 million rubles, forced labor for up to 5 years, or imprisonment from 8 to 12 years, depending on how many rubles the currency was sold for.
2. You must immediately take the fake currency to the bank. Having verified its falsity, the credit institution will issue a special certificate to the citizen who brought it. However, a genuine replacement for a fake will not be issued.

By following these instructions, you can protect yourself from criminal liability. Take care of yourself and your wallet!