Warning - New (to me) ATM Rip Off

[Guest RichLB]

This is the first time this has happened to me. I assume it's a new rip off. This afternoon I went to the ATM machine and withdrew 10,000 baht. Out came the 10 bills and I dutifully put them in my wallet. Not until I came home did I discover that the first 4 bills were 1000 baht bills and so were the last 5. The middle bill was a 500 baht bill. Grrr. Not quite sure what anyone can do about this if it should happen to you too, but it pisses me off.

[Gaybutton]

Of course, it is best to check what comes out of the machine while you're still standing right there and if a problem occurs, call the bank immediately.

 

You should still call the bank. They might have some way of verifying the mistake and getting your 500 baht back to you.

 

I doubt this was a deliberate rip-off. It seems to me like some sort of glitch in which a 500 baht note got mixed up somehow with the thousand baht notes and you wound up finding it.

[Guest fountainhall]

You should still call the bank.

I also do not think this is a scam. Banks know exactly what their ATM machines are dispensing and to whom. So you should definitely contact the bank with the details of your account and time of withdrawal.

 

I was once withdrawing money late one evening when, following the ATM card being ejected, the bills were issued. Stupidly I dropped the card and then fumbled slightly picking it up and putting it back in my wallet. As I was about to take the bills, the machine swallowed them back inside! I had no idea if the bank would pay out the next morning, but after only a short wait they did so. It turns out there is a maximum time limit within which you must withdraw the bills. This is because some people put their card in their wallet and then completely forget to take their cash. It prevents anyone from walking past, seeing the stash of bills and stealing them - unless there is someone right behind you, of course. In that case, you have to depend on the police identifying the thief via the in-built camera, and hope he still has enough cash to pay you back.

[Bob]

I also doubt it was an intentional ripoff. That happened to me once at my US bank and I telephoned them a couple hours later and they said they'd check it out. The next day they called me and said they verified that I was shorted and then put the shortage back into my account. If they could do it (probably by looking at a computer screen showing the withdrawal and machine cash balance at the time), then my guess is your Thai bank has the same ability to check it out. The only question is whether whoever you contact really wants to bother checking it out.

[Guest]

This is the first time this has happened to me. I assume it's a new rip off. This afternoon I went to the ATM machine and withdrew 10,000 baht. Out came the 10 bills and I dutifully put them in my wallet. Not until I came home did I discover that the first 4 bills were 1000 baht bills and so were the last 5. The middle bill was a 500 baht bill. Grrr. Not quite sure what anyone can do about this if it should happen to you too, but it pisses me off.

I wonder how this happens.

You would like to think the cash machines have separate stacks for each type of note in the machine & that the machine will always pick the note from the correct stack (should be 100% foolproof).

Then it would be quite tempting for any dishonest cash handler to swap the occasional 1000 for a 500.

However, I would also expect the machine to check each note dispensed also.

 

Which bank was it & have you complained?

[Gaybutton]

I wonder how this happens.

However it happened, I believe it was unintentional. I've never heard of anything like this happening before. I think it was just a fluke and RichLB was unfortunate enough to be at the wrong ATM at the wrong time. Murphy's Law strikes again.

[Guest RichLB]

Just thought I'd let everyone know. My wallet was empty when I went to the ATM to refill it so there was no chance I mixed up an existing 500 baht bill with those dispensed by the machine. My guess is that either the person who restocks the money pulled a fast one or it was an unintended mistake somehow. At any rate, I finally got around to calling the bank and they couldn't have been nicer. Without being asked to do so, they are crediting my account for the missing 500 baht. Luckily, the ATM machine was from the same bank as my account.

[Guest fountainhall]

Luckily, the ATM machine was from the same bank as my account.

I am glad you got the Bt. 500 refunded. With all respect, though, I really do not think luck came into it. As I said earlier, all banks have detailed records of ATM withdrawals. They know which card withdraws cash and exactly how much is dispensed. The fact that you got the refund quickly meant they were almost certainly aware of the discrepancy earlier in the day when the cash balances were checked.