HAVE you ever counted the money and checked the currency notes after a transaction at some automated teller machine (ATM)? The chances are that you have not because the majority does not do that, trusting the machine. Having faith in the banking system, like many others in the country, I usually do not check and count the notes. But recently I paid a heavy price for the trust I had in the system.

As it happened, I withdrew money from an ATM in Zhob. I then proceeded to the local market to make some purchases, and when I attempted to pay, I was met with incredulity and suspicion as the shopkeeper declared that the currency note was fake. The incident quickly escalated, leading to an embarrassing and degrading confrontation with the shopkeeper and other customers present there at the time.

I argued vehemently that the note could not be a fake as I had withdrawn it moments earlier from the ATM. I assumed that the ATMs were designed to dispense only genuine and valid currency notes, but, as it turned out, I was wrong, and the Rs1,000 denomi-nation note was indeed a fake; a fake delivered by an official ATM of a bank. It was a distressing experience that left me feeling humiliated, degraded and disrespected.

The next day, I visited the bank and shared the details of the incident with the officials at the branch. I asked them to investigate the issue, check the CCTV footage, the serial number of the notes and do whatever was needed. Unfor-tunately, the bank staff refused to probe the issue at all, and avoided having an official complaint registered.

I went to the bank’s regional head office. Initially, the head office also tried to avoid registering the complaint, but somehow, after a lot of arguments and multiple attempts, I succeeded in getting a complaint registered. But, sadly, after a few days the complaint was closed unprofessionally with a message saying that the “customer should have contacted the bank branch the day when the incident happened” and that the claim was “invalid and unjustified”.

I believe it is essential for all banks to uphold the highest standards of service and transparency, especially when it comes to the integrity of the currency they dispense. However, this incident has shaken my confidence in the reliability and security of ATM services, and has raised serious concerns about the quality control and maintenance of ATMs.

Will any relevant authority, including the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), investigate the matter and provide justice, ensuring that customers are not deprived of their money by any bank?

Muneeb-Ur-Rahman
Quetta

Published in Dawn, December 13th, 2023