What to do if counterfeit money is found at the cash desk?

Recently, the number of counterfeit hryvnias has increased in Ukraine. Counterfeit bills can be bought online or via telegram. Counterfeiters boast that their counterfeits are indistinguishable from the original, and even bank terminals do not always recognize counterfeit bills. Read this article to find out what to do if you find counterfeit hryvnias at the cash desk and whether the cashier is responsible for this.

When can a cashier refuse to accept money?

Cashiers are obliged to accept banknotes and coins of any denomination. The only exception when a cashier may refuse to accept cash as payment is if he or she has doubts about the authenticity and solvency of the money. That is, if the cashier is not sure whether the money is real or counterfeit, he or she may refuse to accept it.

To determine the authenticity of money, cashiers are guided by the Rules for Determining the Payability of Banknotes and Coins. If the buyer starts to prove that the money is genuine and demands that it be accepted, the seller or cashier may refuse and suggest that the customer contact the nearest bank to establish the authenticity of the banknote. The cashier or seller is not required to document their refusal in any way.

If the cashier does not recognize the counterfeit money and accepts it into the cash register, the counterfeit may be detected later: during the cash recount or by a bank employee when transferring the collection.

Is the cashier who accepted counterfeit money liable?

When hiring a cashier or a salesperson, a liability agreement (full or partial) is often concluded. If a cashier causes damage to the company (through no fault of his own), he is liable for financial damages.

In the case of a cashier, he or she can be held liable for the presence of counterfeit money in the cash register only if the employer has provided the cashier's workplace with the necessary technical devices to determine the authenticity of banknotes (currency detector).
If it is visually obvious that the banknote is counterfeit or can be easily detected by a currency detector, and the cashier still accepted it as payment, then the cashier is liable. The employer has the right to claim compensation for the amount of the loss (shortage in the cash register).

If it is impossible to determine the authenticity of a banknote, even with the help of a currency detector, then the seller or cashier cannot be held responsible for counterfeit money at the cash desk.

If the cashier pleaded guilty and agreed to compensate for the damage, it is worth remembering that you cannot deduct more than 20% of the amount received in cash from your salary at one time. In other words, the amount of withholding must be divided into several payments. However, at the request of the employee, the entire amount may be withheld at once.

What to do with counterfeit money?

You are not obliged to call the police and report counterfeit money (and there is no point in doing so). In this case, there are two options: contact the bank to establish the authenticity of the banknote or write off the bills as a cash shortage.

If you are not sure whether the money you are holding is counterfeit or genuine, you can contact your servicing bank and write a request to have the questionable banknotes examined. The bank will send the money to the NBU for analysis and, if the fact of counterfeiting is established, will write off the money, but no one will compensate you for the cost of the counterfeit money and no one will return the counterfeit.

If you hand over counterfeit money to the bank through a cash collector, the procedure for checking questionable banknotes will be the same, but you will not need to write an application.

If there is no doubt that you are dealing with counterfeit money and you do not want to contact the bank, you can destroy the counterfeit money yourself and make a cash shortage for the amount of counterfeit money.

It is forbidden to keep, let alone sell, counterfeit money (give change). This is punishable by criminal liability: 3 to 7 years in prison.

What should you do if you did not recognize counterfeit money and handed it over to the bank?

If you handed over counterfeit money to a bank with a cash collector, the bank teller will send the questionable bills to the NBU for authentication. The money that is not in doubt will be credited to the company's account, and the bank will credit the questionable bills to an off-balance sheet account.

The client will receive one copy of the certificate of withdrawal of doubtful notes and a copy of the receipt of the off-balance sheet order with the bank's stamp.

Within 20 business days, the bank will submit the questionable banknotes to the NBU, and the NBU will conduct an examination within 20 to 60 days for national currency and 30 days for foreign currency. After the examination, the NBU will send the bank the bank's report:

• information on the study of questionable banknotes;
• if the authenticity of the money is established, it will credit the amount to the relevant bank account;
• send a report to the police about the seizure of counterfeit money and hand it over to the responsible person of the National Police.

After receiving the information from the NBU, the servicing bank:

• write off counterfeits from an off-balance sheet account;
• within 5 business days will notify the holder of the suspicious banknotes of the results of the study;
• reimburse the holder of the questionable banknotes for the amount of the examined banknotes (if they are found to be genuine).