According to reports, finding fake currency notes in the stacks of money given by banks to clients when they make withdrawals is becoming increasingly common, exacting a heavy toll on clients.
Clients say the circulation of counterfeit notes seems to rise ahead of the two Eid festivals.
Depositors withdrawing cash say they frequently spot one or two counterfeit notes in the stacks they are given at the cash counter, but only after they have taken the money home. They say it is virtually impossible to check each and every note manually right at the counter.
To make matters worse, banks refuse to take back false currency notes that are detected by customers after they have left the bank, on the grounds that no complaint will be addressed once a client leaves the cash counter.
Asked about it, Bangladesh Bank Executive Director Subhankar Saha said there is no instruction from the central bank that clients cannot complain to commercial banks about fake notes or any other objection regarding cash after leaving the cash counters.
But banks, nevertheless, routinely make this claim to aggrieved customers.
With reference to a circular, Subhankar said banks must count out their cash when receiving money from the Bangladesh Bank cash counter and the central bank does not entertain complaints made after the cash has been taken.
But the instruction is only applicable to transactions between Bangladesh Bank and the scheduled banks, he said.
“We will formulate a guideline to address the counterfeit note issue that is straining relations between banks and clients,” he said.
Although Bangladesh Bank has asked commercial banks to use fake note detection devices to ensure that the public receives genuine notes, the instruction is rarely followed.
Rahat Mahmood Raquib, a client of a commercial bank, narrated his ordeal with his bank after receiving a fake note of Tk1,000 denomination.
He said the note was spotted in a Tk1 lakh bundle that he withdrew from the Satmasjid Road branch of a well-respected commercial bank on August 13.
“I withdrew Tk4 lakh from the branch that day. The bank provided me with three bundles of Tk1,000 and two of Tk500.”
Rahat said on August 16 afternoon, he went to deposit the amount at another bank which identified the fake note in one of the thousand taka stacks.
“The bank returned the bundle to me without damaging the sticker of the original bank that had given me the cash, and suggested returning it to the bank where the money had been withdrawn from.”
On August 17, he went to the original bank, but the bank refused to take the money back and the branch operating manager refused even to discuss the issue of her bank’s culpability.
The bank official simply stated that no complaint is accepted once a client leaves the bank counter, Rahat recalled.
When asked about the case, the operating manager declined to comment further.
Her bank told the Dhaka Tribune that the law says banks cannot accept any complaint unless it is made at the time of withdrawal, as per Bangladesh Bank rules, even though this rule, in fact, does not apply to transactions between commercial banks and their clients.
Talking to the Dhaka Tribune, Rahat explained that it is difficult for customers to scrutinise each and every note while counting. “We trust the banks and believe they will never allow false notes to slip into the bundles of money.”
He later client filed a complaint with Bangladesh Bank.
Police have seized fake notes worth over Tk1.62 crore between January and July this year against which 52 cases have been filed.
There are loopholes in the existing rules about fake notes, a deputy general manager of Bangladesh Bank admitted, asking not to be named.
“Once, my wife received a counterfeit note from a bank,” he said.
“We will take steps to address the problems clients are facing over false notes,” he said.
The central bank has taken various measures to stem the circulation of false notes, the official said. Bank managers should apply prudence when dealing with the matter, he added.