With several complaints about Automated Teller Machines dispensing fake N1,000 notes in recent times, banking authorities may have a worrying trend to deal with, writes ARUKAINO UMUKORO
There is a common joke: It is only in Nigeria that a customer has to count his money to be certain that a bank's Automated Teller Machine paid him the requested amount.
But that humour was lost on a customer, Obaro Thomas (not real name), who visited one of the new generation banks in Lagos some weeks ago.
In a hurry because of an appointment, he withdrew the needed amount from the ATM and without counting, he went away. It was only when he went to the supermarket that he realised, to his chagrin, that one of the N1,000 notes dispensed from the ATM was fake.
He went back to the bank to complain, only to be told that the fake note could not have been dispensed by their ATM. After a long argument with one of the front desk officers, a senior bank officer intervened and agreed to replace the fake note with a genuine one, but not until they had conducted an investigation.
It was almost impossible that any of the bank's ATMs would dispense a fake note because there were security checks during the loading process, claimed the official, who added that even if the process was tampered with, the machine would have torn the counterfeit note on discovery, at the tail end.
Although Thomas got his money replaced a few days later after the bank claimed its investigations found nothing wrong with its ATM or the process of dispensing cash, a few other incidents have indicated that this glitch may not be an isolated case.
A few weeks ago, a newspaper (not The Punch) reported that a customer withdrew some amount of money from an ATM in Ibadan, only to realise later that two of the N1,000 notes were fake. The same happened in Lagos, when, on getting to make a cash deposit in another bank, a customer found out that some of the N1,000 notes he withdrew from a nearby ATM were counterfeits.
In the past, there had been reported cases of fake naira notes in circulation, but the incidents of ATMs dispensing fake notes seem a new and worrying trend. Interestingly, the cases have been of a particular denomination – N1,000 notes.
Our correspondent learnt that there were two officials responsible for loading ATMs with cash. One bank official described this as "dual custody" of the ATM.
"At every point in time, both persons are expected to be in the ATM room, while they carry out the loading. Also, you have to count the cash before you load it into the system.
"There are also security cameras in the ATM rooms such that if at any point in time, someone tampers with the money, they will know."
However, while it is often said that ATMs detect fake currencies and would not pay the fake note, the official stated that the process could be compromised by human error or failure of responsibility.
A financial analyst and Chief Executive Officer, Proshare Nigeria Limited, Mr. Femi Awoyemi, said the cases of ATMs dispensing fake N1,000 notes should be checked. "I haven't heard that it is rampant. So it may not be systemic issue. The key determinant to understand this would be to know which area these breaches occurred, was it a geographical or service point issue? The personnel working inside those service points may need to be seriously cross-checked," he said.
So, how does one tell the difference between a fake and a genuine naira note? "Each naira note has its own special print features that deter counterfeiters from creating one. These features range from those we can see and feel to those that reflect or illuminate under varying light conditions. In the watermark, the eagle is replaced with CBN logo and letters 'CBN,' are in a vertical format which can be seen more clearly when the notes are held up against light," explained the Central Bank of Nigeria, in its website under its frequently asked questions section.
With the recent scenarios, have counterfeiters devised a way to cover up their tracks? Maybe not, Awoyemi said, noting that the cases of fake naira notes in circulation seem to have dwindled in the last 15 years.
"So far so good, the Nigerian economy is stable and these cases might just be random incidents, but those in charge should come out, properly communicate and curtail it. With these brought to their attention, I'm sure they would commence work immediately," Awoyemi said.
Efforts to get CBN's official response were not successful. Its Corporate Communications Manager, Mr. Uzochukwu Okoroafor, promised to get back to our correspondent. But at the time of filing this report, he had yet to reply the e-mail and text messages sent to his phone.
