Fake £20 notes Forums

carolsrig

i filled up yesterday with fuel for my car went to pay handed the cashier 5£20 notes , she put these some kind of machine and then handed me back two saying " sorry sir these are fake" well i wished the ground would open uo and swollow me, anyway i told her i just collected these from the bank which i did,anyway back to the bank which they denied it blah blah blah ,result lost £40,now these are really good fakes! and there the new £20 notes!!so people beware!!!

Rightz

the sad thing is the only way to reclaim the money - as the banks are useless - is to palm them off on someone else.

These crooks act fast - didnt think they be faking them yet!

autostratus · Moderator

HarleyDave

Penquin

I believe you would be committing an offence if you knowingly passed them off as genuine. But in the past there have been concerns about how "fakes" are identified. I remember a BBC investigation (Watchdog?) that there is no perfect way to identify many of them other than them having the same serial number. The pens that some people use to detect the type of paper are not reliable, neither are the UV scanners.

How were they identified by the garage as fakes? My first question would be to them, then to the bank. Did the bank confirm they were fakes, if so how?

When you got them from a bank was it from a real person or an ATM? ATM's are fed by the staff using new, bundled, notes. They won't work with old notes due to the creases etc.

If you got them from an ATM, the bank installed them and would have a record of having done so. If from a person in the bank it is less easy to prove because they could have been taken in frm a previous customer and there is little control that the bank can exercise, other than checking obvious fakes.

Difficult to say what to do, you are peeved because someone passed them to you, how would you feel if it happened again. But £40.00 is a considerable sum of money (its almost 35 litres of fuel!) to lose. The only saving grace is that it was not £400.

runoutofnames

The only problem is that if you just try to pay them back into the bank and they ARE fakes, the bank just keep hold of them and don't credit your account (it happened to me). As long as you have them in your possession you have at least a chance of arguing with them that IT WAS them that gave them to you in the first place.

Don't let it pass. Send a letter to someone higher up in the bank and let rip. Can you tell us which bank it was?

Joy

icer

It has always been my understanding that once the bank is aware that they are holding a forged note they contact the police. they are if fake,just pieces of paper. Somewhat surprise that they gave them back to you!
Which bank.
I think that I would write to the manager as has been suggested, outlining scenario and timescale
ian

EJB

"It has always been my understanding that once the bank is aware that they are holding a forged note they contact the police."

I didn't think that banks reported ANY crimes...unless it's over £3.5 Billion of course...when it leaks out! Wink

Briarose

Hi we have a shop and with the old £20 notes it was easy to spot a fake, it felt different and also when you hold it up the bars that are visible across the note by the silver line are not there on a fake.

I have no idea though how to spot a new fake anyone know.

There are also lots of fake £1 coins about made out of lead and you wouldn't believe how many we refused last summer.

Zebedee · Moderator