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One sees many reports of fake notes in circulation and ATMs giving out fake notes. What can one do to prove that fake notes came out of the ATM? Most ATM booths these days have a poster telling you how to identify a fake. So to a certain extent one can check the notes, but some counterfeits resemble the original so closely that it would not be possible for you to identify them. If you happen to get a fake note from an ATM and get to know of it later, you will have to take it to the bank from whose ATM you got it, along with the ATM receipt. The bank can at best check (if they want to) through their CCTV footage , whether you really did go there on that day and at that time. Beyond that, you cannot provide any other proof. In fact the regulator should also instruct banks to equip ATMs with the intelligence to detect and reject fakes, so that they do not dispense such notes at all. Banks should also adopt the international practice of "casette swap"system, wherein sealed and secured cassettes of currencies are used to refill the ATMs. This would ensure that outsourced agencies or bank employees do not switch notes when ATMs are being loaded. Unless and until banks take such fool-proof measures, they will have to take responsibility for fakes coming out of ATMs. Last week I withdrew Rs 5,000 from an ATM. However, when I gave one of the Rs 1,000 note to a shopkeeper, he refused to take it saying that it was counterfeit. I went back to the bank, which confirmed that it was fake, but refused to take it back. What are my options? I remember a case decided by the Andhra Pradesh State Commission in 2008, wherein a retired school teacher who encashed a cheque of Rs 1 lakh from a bank branch was given counterfeit notes to the tune of Rs 37,500. When he took the entire bundle to deposit in another branch of the same bank, the bank argued that it was the duty of the customer to check the veracity of the notes and refused to replace the counterfeit, forcing him to eventually seek the help of the consumer court. Asking the bank to make good the loss suffered by the consumer, the Commission criticised the bank for trying to make the teacher pay for its mistake of accepting counterfeit notes from two persons, as shown by police investigations later! So consumer courts are there to help you if the bank does not redress your complaint. In order to strengthen your case, I would also suggest that you find out from the bank, through an RTI, the measures put in place (or not put in place) by it to prevent fake notes from going into the ATM. Any negligence on the part of the bank in this regard will add value to your complaint.
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Please remember that it is the duty of the bank to ensure that only genuine notes are fed into an ATM. As per the Reserve Bank directive issued in May 2012, no bank can put back into circulation currency notes (of Rs 100 and higher denominations) received by them, without first processing them for authenticity. This should be done through machines conforming to standards prescribed by the regulator. In other words, the banks are duty bound to ensure that no fake or counterfeit note comes out of an ATM. Failure on this count constitutes negligence and the banks are liable for the consequences. 