€50 notes being refused

tohaltuwi

Just came across this in Costa, Nutgrove. Joe Duffy was mentioning a sharp increase in “physical scams” (versus cyber scams), so now it’s looking like our €50 notes are currently “useless”.

A number of ATMs now don’t dispense anything smaller.

Anyone find this happening anywhere else?

ednwireland

nah they just don't want to carry enough change in the tills.

wouldn't take long for a few 50s to empty it.

Allinall

Virtually all ATMs dispense €20 notes, and quite a few (mostly AIB) have €10 notes as well.

tohaltuwi

So effectively a kick against the banks being so fond of €50 🤔

ToweringPerformance

Vote with your wallet and give someone else the business.

Calahonda52

The non bank located ATMs are a haven for distribution of forged notes by organised crime, has been for years

Jim_Hodge

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122178600#Comment_122178600

I use 4 ATMs regularly. 3 of them dispense €50s by default. The fourth uses €20s about half the time only.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122178614#Comment_122178614

How do you make that out?

Allinall

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122178623#Comment_122178623

Do you always look for multiples of €50s?

Any ATMs I use, I always look for €80 or €120 or similar, and have never failed to get the cash.

Gary_dunne

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122178623#Comment_122178623

Maybe try some new ATM's?

The Continental Op

I travel to the UK a lot and their "national" note is the 20 pound note. Here its the €50 note anyone that says otherwise doesn't use cash here very much.

Atlantic Dawn

A few weeks back I had €400 in €50 notes freshly withdrawn out of an ATM machine, of the 8 notes I couldn't get a single note to match up with another in terms of where the watermark was placed, where the metal stripe was positioned, where the printing had started and ended/paused on the paper. All had the fancy ink green colour tech for the amount and proper holographic transparent stripe. I am of the opinion something very dodgy is going on with the €50 phyical notes, I know they are printed by different central banks througout Europe but it's very odd to see such differences in them, has the note being compromised?

ancapailldorcha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122178593#Comment_122178593

I used to work in a betting shop. 10am each day, I would open my till with a 20, 2 x 10s, a 5 and some change and the worst thing in the world would be this aul fella in for the virtual racing who'd lay on a E2 bet and pay with a 50.

Ezeoul

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122178631#Comment_122178631

I believe its because the likes of the small ATMs you find inside shops, garages etc, are filled by the shop staff, not by a bank.

freshpopcorn

I've heard of £50.00 notes not been taken in the UK.

Sounds like Costa trying a similar policy here.

Yeah Right

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122178694#Comment_122178694

Assuming for a second that what you're saying is true (it isn't), what does that mean? That the workers in Centra and Mace and Circle K who are doing the filling are being coerced into filling them with dodgy notes by the Kinahans or whatever? Multiple people, across many varied locations, with God knows how may points of failure?

Really?

Is that more believable than a made-up urban legend posted on Boards without a single shred of evidence to back it up?

Dial Hard

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122178662#Comment_122178662

I don't know about the rest of the features but the placement of the metal strip on all euro banknotes has a variance of a couple of millimetres, it's to help them stack evenly when they're in ATM cassettes, etc.

Strumms

no 50 euro notes now.. get you used to that… them calling the shots then in a few years, no cash full stop.

They will blame the prevalence of forged every kind of note. High costs of security, cash processing etc…

Look at Costa’s profits, not exactly struggling. A seriously healthy multimillion euro profit last year.

This is how it starts….

Atlantic Dawn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122178761#Comment_122178761

Yes that makes a lot of sense, could be €200k in a machine at one time.

I suppose when the positioning of that is moved the rest of the general security configuration of the note moves too, the hologram in exactly the same position also likely to cause problems loading/unloading notes from the machine.

Leg End Reject

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122178758#Comment_122178758

More likely that forged €50 notes are used to buy a low value item and the customer is given legit notes in their change.

The shop assistant then unknowingly fills the ATM with a mixture of genuine and forged notes. As mentioned before it's the shop that fills these, not banks.

Yeah Right

I never claimed it was banks.

Anyone who thinks they're being filled by the staff working in a shop needs their head examined.

Leg End Reject

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122178813#Comment_122178813

Who fills the ATMs in shops then?

Akrasia

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122178823#Comment_122178823

Not the shop staff that's for certain. The ATMs are serviced by professionals who work for the banks/ATM providers who replace used cassettes of cash with full ones. They drive around in unmarked vans and you'd barely notice them

Dial Hard

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122178813#Comment_122178813

Some retail ATMs are indeed filled by shop staff. Or certainly used to be, anyway.

Leg End Reject

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122178848#Comment_122178848

They used to be, I didn't know that had changed. It's a bid mad that people are driving around in vans full of money.

The Continental Op

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122178808#Comment_122178808

It doesn't work very well that way ;-)

I spent some time testing note readers for retail project. I was handling hundreds of notes a day then changing them out for a new lot of notes. I also spent some time trying to obtain fakes for testing - not legal but how do you test otherwise? Found motorway type service stations and large garages the best place and many at the time had them pinned up in the office as a warning to others. So I've seen a good few fakes.

You'd be excused missing a good fake €50 in a batch of used notes, if you were in a hurry counting them, but anyone should be able to spot even a really good fake if they handle a single note. I'd go as far as to say anyone who can't spot a forgery should be sacked.

I also discussed with people who had the fakes how they had been passed. Clueless staff was one answer but the biggest single reason was hard pressed staff who were in a hurry to process a transaction. The worst fake I ever saw was a €5 printed on a school copier and past during school lunch hour when the shop had a queue of kids out the door. That €5 was so bad you only had to look at it to see it wasn't real but pick your moment and you can get away with almost anything. Another company I know that got caught with a few fake €50's who got them in with a large amount of €50's when someone paid cash for a large ticket item. Individually you could see they were wronguns but if you only saw half when counting them then most people would have missed it.

I'm not saying there aren't some good fake €50's out there but really guys I would expect anyone here to spot them. In fact if you were blind you'd probably know they weren't right as the feel of the paper quality of a fake is often "wrong".

A UV light in the till draw imo is the simplest answer. You only need see how a real note looks under UV a few times to spot a fake.

Ray Palmer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122178823#Comment_122178823

Some do fill their own but most don't. It could be possible to fill it with forged notes but the machines do check they are legitimate notes so don't issue them and report it. Do you really think nobody thought of this when they were doing a security assessments?

Leg End Reject

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122178868#Comment_122178868

It's mad that there's so many if they're easily spotted and the ATMs reject them.

You'd want a brass neck to knowingly try to spend one, I'd look very suspicious and shifty.

mrcheez

People still use cash? 😲

Nah kidding, I still have some cash, but use cash perhaps one day a year if I need to repay someone or similar (if they don't have Revolut/Paypal)

But… I guess this is another reason to go cashless…

Sleeper12

I deal with €50 notes on a daily basis. Haven't seen a dodgy one in over 20 years

whomitconcerns

I'm 9 years in the UK and have never used a £50 note. I have had one in my possession less than 4/5 times.

In Ireland as said above 50€ would be almost the default note

NewbridgeIR

It's easy to get €20 notes if you ask for

€40 in all ATMs

€80 in a BOI or PTSB ATM. A lot of AIBs have €10s so €80 often gets you one of each note.

€130 in all ATMs (you'll get one €50 and four €20s)

Purple Mountain

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122178600#Comment_122178600

No ATMs dispense €10s.

And in the height of the boom most ATMs in shops only dispensed €50s.

It's funny how things change over time. Pre Covid, using your card for any small purchases was a sin and often came with a handling charge from the shop!

Jim_Hodge

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122178638#Comment_122178638

€80 would give a 50, 20 and 10

Allinall

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122178927#Comment_122178927

I got €10 notes the other day from an AIB ATM.

Naas Rd branch.

The Continental Op

I also use the ATM's a lot when I'm in the UK. The standard £200 I'd normally draw would be 180 in €20's and two tens. Nearly every machine would be the same occasionally there's be a couple of extra tens and one less 20. Never have I got a £50 out of an ATM in the UK. Here a €50 would be common.

Lewis_Benson

So €100 notes are OK then?

growleaves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122178898#Comment_122178898

Counterfeit payment cards are a bigger issue than forged cash.

For every method of payment there are criminal scams to go with it.

The Continental Op

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122178958#Comment_122178958

Nope, its like every nation has its own way of looking at money. In the UK £50's aren't used much and often get queried if you do use them. Here no one bats and eye at a €50 but I haven't seen a €100 in years. Therefore I suspect if I did have a €100 there might be some places that would at the very least give it a good hard look and check it before taking it. Once long ago I had some €200 notes and about the only thing I could do with them was pay them into the bank.

Ezeoul

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122178758#Comment_122178758

I'm not making any accusations. Just posting what I've heard in conversations on the subject, at work, etc.

No need to be so aggressive.

Pauliedragon

The ATMs in shops are filled by staff. Some of them anyway. When I was a manager in a supermarket the ATM was filled up from the safe every night.

tohaltuwi

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122178638#Comment_122178638

I always try that combination but in my experience in Dundrum/Churchtown area where I mostly hang about, it is only part of the time I can get get €20 notes.

Ezeoul

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122178927#Comment_122178927

Both the BOI atms at Main Street Tallaght, and the PTSB ATM at Tallaght Village dispense €10 notes. The Ulster Bank machine used to dispense them too, but its gone now.

tohaltuwi

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122179010#Comment_122179010

Yes, I’ve been queried in UK when proferring £50 notes, “where did you get that?”

Then in some European countries there’s been surprise at my presenting a €50, eg Estonia.

tohaltuwi

I’d have thought there is a strict protocol about filling up the machines, but of course I’m not naive enough to understand there could be some breaches. I know little if me nothing about the logistics here.

Glaceon

My mother works in a large supermarket and once told me that they filled the ATM themselves. I don’t know if they still do.

Leg End Reject

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122179077#Comment_122179077

A small local shop near me used to have an ATM about 10 years ago.

I went in one day to withdraw cash and it was gone, the owner explained that they didn't take in enough cash to keep it topped up and lots of people complained so they got rid of it.

So some were definitely filled by staff.

Del2005

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122179053#Comment_122179053

That's because most people there use cards. I was at an event there when the card machines went down, the staff had to use their own money as they had no float.

Then you go to Germany and they use €500 notes a lot.

cj maxx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122178808#Comment_122178808

Dead right , in my local shop I took money out of the atm and 2 of them were Scottish which they wouldn’t accept until I kicked up a stink about getting them in their atm .

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122178694#Comment_122178694

Signs on local machines say staff have no access to them

Frankie19

I used to work in the cash office of a large retailer and one of my tasks was to fill the ATM at the end of the day when the store had just closed while being supervised by the store manager. We would both double check the amounts going in and sign a form to confirm how much was taken from the safe and put into the ATM. We also had to double check the cassettes to make sure we hadn't put 50's into the 20's cassette!