Wells Fargo Hands Fake $100 Bill To Customer, Issues Alert on Worthless Withdrawal and Counterfeit Cash: Report

A Wells Fargo customer says she’s shocked after the banking giant gave her fake cash during a seemingly routine withdrawal.

Kam Ridley recently went to a Wells Fargo branch in Mississippi to withdraw cash and pay bills, reports the ABC-affiliated news station WAPT.

Ridley then went to her other bank, Trustmark, to deposit the cash – but the ATM refused to accept her $100 bill.

Bewildered, Ridley went inside the bank and spoke to a teller who told her the money from Wells Fargo is obviously fake.

“When I give it to the teller, she says, ‘Oh, I can’t take it. It’s counterfeit.’

I was like, ‘Girl, no. No.’ I said, ‘Run the little marker thing over it.’ And she said, ‘I don’t have to. I’m looking at it. It’s counterfeit.'”

In response to the incident, Wells Fargo released a statement on its efforts to scan paper money and fight fraud.

“Wells Fargo takes great measures to educate our employees on how to identify and alert authorities to counterfeit currency.

We are committed to working closely with law enforcement officials to stop counterfeiters.”

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency warns customers who discover their bank gave them fake money may be out of luck and unable to prove what happened.

“Unfortunately, this circumstance would be a factual dispute. You can claim the bank gave you the counterfeit bill; the bank can claim that you, after leaving the premises, obtained the counterfeit bill elsewhere.”

Reports of people trying to use counterfeit cash have spread across the US in recent weeks, including reports of people trying to bleach $1 bills and print $100 marks on top.

Last year, the US Secret Service says it confiscated $21.8 million in fake money, with 197 arrests.

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