TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin warning $ from ATMs on the Dutch side

http://721news.com/wib-refuse-to-pay-bac...b-atm-machines/

I got stuck with at least 10 of the strained $20 bills paid to me from tourists that got the money from ATMs.

Bob--I saw that story online. Really stinks for you also!!

I know that the banks are involved in laundering this cash. How else could it have gotten into circulation.

Perhaps the robbers deposited it into their account using the ATM <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/jester.gif" alt="" />

For crying out loud! WIB employees loaded the tainted money into the WIB ATM machine! THEY are the responsible party!

This is yet another reason we NEVER do ANY business with WIB when on island!

(The money you deposit into an ATM is always kept seperate from the money dispensed from an ATM... Thus the tainted money dispensed MUST have been loaded into the dispenser stack by a bank employee...)


We only do business with Scotia Bank...they have consistently been an honest bank in our dealings with them!

IMHO...

From things that happened and were reported years ago, and it would seem they are still at it, I never use WIB - always use Scotia and have never had a problem with them.

we use WIB all the time for our business account.. it is a reliable bank... no better or worse than any of the others..
we do have personal accounts with Scotia.. had some problems with them over the past.
so it all depends..

Bob--According to WIB, the money was in circulation 5 days before the police issued an alert about it.. And obviously, a BANK would have no idea that it should look out for money with dye on it. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Wink.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/duh.gif" alt="" />

It's not only WIB, RBC has them too. It's been a few weeks already since the word was sent out and I'm sure the banks were the first to be notified. All of a sudden this week the money starts showing up? Something is fishy.

Are French side ATMs dispensing US dollars having similar issues? Does anyone know?
Are the French banks perhaps handling things differently?

I will be seriously pi**ed if I withdraw money and go into the branch to let them know, only to have a dispute.

I have no idea. It has not been reported that there are any problems on the French side but as the bills circulate, it seems to me they will cross the border. I'm not sure how long it will take to remove all the stained bills from circulation and how many people will lose money. I'm at $160 so far.

I occasionally get a $20 with a touch of red on it in the US. Maybe a mark on the edge, but nothing like a smear across the bill or an obvious "immersion" in red dye. Nobody freaks out over it.

You bring up a very good point, Bahston. Unless the bills were new, still wrapped very tightly in their straps, I find it hard to believe that there are very many bills that weren't well-stained from the explosion of the dye pack. The robbers should have gotten dye on their hands and clothing as well, if they were carrying the bag containing the pack. Those things explode pretty violently.

The whole thing seems a bit suspect to me.

Kinda what I was thinking overnight.....hold on to your bills for a while Bob.
I'm sure eventually you can use them, or just take them on your next trip. One here, one there....they were already well into circulation... Probably passed to gas stations, grocery stores, utility companies, etc....all who then made business deposits, and then all of those bills ended up in the ATM's.

The amount of red is so small. just on the edge. Not the whole edge but just a little in a few small spots. Impossible to even notice unless you were specifically looking for it like the bank is now. They weren't looking when they put them into the ATMS. On a small island, every one is looking now.

Maybe I am being a tad simple here BUT:

There was a robbery of around $20k or so.
A dye pack exploded marking the bills.
Consumers are now getting the bills from ATM's

Simple me would think that LESS THAN AN HOUR LATER OR SO (or 1st thing in the AM in this case) some sort of notification would be sent out warning banks and businesses (easier for banks obviously) to be on the look out for said bills.

Somehow the bills ended up in at least one bank. No excuse for that UNLESS there was an involvement on the bank(s) part. I'm sure Joe Crook didn't show up with a single $20 but rather a decent quantity since they showed up in quantity in ATM's. See red dye...save the video of the crook...catch the crook.

..and...I didn't know the bills were not legal ("being refused", "stuck with") after being exposed. The marked bills are part of a trail and should help determine where they came from AND should be exchanged. How can the bank refuse to exchange bills received from THEIR ATM?

..and what if the money was recovered intact after the dye exploded? Is the casino out the $20k either way? Somehow I doubt it.

As was mentioned by others, there is NO WAY this money should have been turned over to consumers by a bank. It kinda defeats the whole process of the dye pack.

Rant over...

Thanks for that more complete info...makes sense about the consumer bill exchange

...and...being the cynic that I am, of course the bank would say the bills did not come from their ATM's...and it doesn't explain how tourists are paying for items with these bills received from an ATM...I guess they THOUGHT they got the money from an ATM but actually received it elsewhere ???????

I'm kind of confused by the story, but I think the point of the story is that the bank is claiming that these bills with just a bit of red on them were not in fact bills taken in the robbery at all.

...and I REALLY doubt a bank would get involved with laundering a $20k heist....$2 million maybe....

A lot of mixed messages....

I would have no difficulty using any of the bills shown in the image on the Daily Herald website at home. They would be accepted anywhere without question.

so here's a story for you. we have a Haitian guy working for us doing some painting. We paid him by check. He cashes the check at the bank (WIB}
The next day he is shopping on Back Street and pays with a $20.00 bill..It has some red on it. Merchant calls cops. Cops look at it, ask him where he got it, and tell him to go back to the bank with it. Cops don't confiscate it or anything else.
Man goes back to WIB, shows them check, shows WIB his check stub from where he had cashed the check the day before. WIB says too bad. WIB punches holes in the $20,00 so the man can't use it. End of story!
Poor hard working man loses $20.00 .
That is just plain nasty! These people work hard for their money and every penny counts for them.
Shame on WIB!

That is absolutely terrible for the poor guy at the end of the food chain. I don't know how the banks can get away with stuff like that, but they do.

Capt Thanks for posting! There are similar laws in the US for counterfeit currency.

This is NOT counterfeit currency...it is quite real

...and...what ever happened to this:



Getting money from the bank directly is kinda the same as an ATM...even worse since they are actually looking at the bill when then disperse it....

Banks say bills with small red marks should be accepted

Carol, That's nice that now they say my money was OK. I doubt I will get my $120 back anytime soon! I sent Linda to NY with the rest of the bills.

We stopped Wednesday morning for breakfast in Simpson Bay and the couple that we were with had the $20 bill they tried to pay with rejected because of the small red marks on the bills. This occurred before the ruling came out and the release of the statement that the banks would accept the money. The couple we were traveling with did not know about the issue of why they would not accept the money. Since I had been reading about the issue here on TT, I was able to explain to them about the tainted money. We saw other people have their money rejected in the same place. One man had to give all his purchase back when they would not accept his $20.