Man obtains ‘fake’ money from ATM

By SALLY POKITON
UPNG journalism
student
A FATHER of three who withdrew money from a BSP ATM on Tuesday has claimed he found a counterfeit K50 note among the cash he obtained.
Michael Umba, an employee of Air Niugini and his Mekeo wife made a withdrawal of K600 at 4pm at the J-Mart BSP ATM in Erima only to find out that a K50 note from the amount was fake after it was rejected at a nearby shop in Erima later.
Umba said he did not know of the counterfeit note until he tried to use it at the shop.
Umba and his wife took the note to the BSP Waigani Drive branch but were referred to the Waigani Banking centre further up the road.
The bank tellers there confirmed that the money was fake.
It is not known how the money was tested to be fake by the bank or the retail store.
The bank said it would not reimburse the money because no security guard was on duty at that time in the ATM location to sign the back of the receipt.
“Frustrated, I screamed in the bank showing the note to customers lining up and telling them to check the money properly when withdrawing from ATMs,” he said.
“It’s my hard earned money but now we will have less to sustain us until the next fortnight.”