Given counterfeit money for Private sale - any advice?

ricdan83 · 14 May 2018 at 1:41PM

Hi - Unfortunately I sold an item privately via Facebook marketplace and was given counterfeit money. This was only realised when I tried to put the money in the bank and they obviously took due diligence of retaining the counterfeit notes.

I've notified Police 101 and awaiting a crime reference number in the hope I can claim back from my Home insurance at least.

Obviously I feel very silly for being duped like this but I was wondering if anybody else has experience of this and if there is anything more I can do to retrieve what was lost via Insurance? I'm assuming not but thought this would be worth a try.

wishuponastar · 14 May 2018 at 2:08PM

Sorry to hear of your situation. You've raised a good point. I used to have one of those pens that write clear but if fake it turns a dark colour. I've seen them use a similar thing at the bank too. If paper notes, you could try getting one of those pens.

But I don't think they would work for the new plastic notes, was it paper or plastic notes? What denomination(s) were they? How many were fake? Was it the odd one or two or the whole lot?

I thought the newer plastic notes were meant to be harder to copy and have extra security measures built into them?

foxy-stoat · 15 May 2018 at 5:27PM

Its always worrying - I used to try any bundles of newly received notes out in the supermarket first, just incase. Not sure what I would of done if one was a fake though.

soolin · 15 May 2018 at 7:45PM

foxy-stoat wrote: »

Its always worrying - I used to try any bundles of newly received notes out in the supermarket first, just incase. Not sure what I would of done if one was a fake though.

Supermarkets would also retain the note , just as the bank did.

Lisbon · 16 May 2018 at 4:03PM

ricdan83 wrote: »

Obviously I feel very silly for being duped like this

Please don't - it could have happened to any of us reading this (and probably has, in some cases).

RFW · 16 May 2018 at 5:58PM

soolin wrote: »

Supermarkets would also retain the note , just as the bank did.

Many years ago I received a few fake £20 notes (probably about 5 or 6). I put them to one side as I thought I could trace the customer who paid with them. We then had an auction and had a fair bit of cash to bank. A little while later I asked where the fake notes had gone from the drawer, I was told I'd paid them in at the bank. I checked with the bank and they had no idea they'd ever been there. Ever since I've always checked if I receive any notes from a bank.

Any store that receives a fake note is supposed to bag it up and give a receipt for it and then pass it to the police. I could usually tell a fake note by touching it, I rarely see cash these days so don't come into contact with anywhere near the amount I used to.

soolin · 16 May 2018 at 7:23PM

RFW wrote: »

Many years ago I received a few fake £20 notes (probably about 5 or 6). I put them to one side as I thought I could trace the customer who paid with them. We then had an auction and had a fair bit of cash to bank. A little while later I asked where the fake notes had gone from the drawer, I was told I'd paid them in at the bank. I checked with the bank and they had no idea they'd ever been there. Ever since I've always checked if I receive any notes from a bank.

Any store that receives a fake note is supposed to bag it up and give a receipt for it and then pass it to the police. I could usually tell a fake note by touching it, I rarely see cash these days so don't come into contact with anywhere near the amount I used to.

You do make a good point, I wonder if fakes will become more easy to pass in future as so few of us handle wads of cash regularly anymore and wouldn't automatically know they were fake. My OH for instance rarely ever has cash, if he wants something he just uses his debit card, I still handle cash as a lot of the auction houses I use still have house limits on the use of a card, so I need cash in case I don't spend enough to meet their minimum card use.

ricdan83 · 17 May 2018 at 10:13AM

Thanks Everyone. The Police have said its a lost case, understandably.

Trying to make a case to claim it back through insurance, but that isn't proving easy!

soolin · 17 May 2018 at 10:20AM

ricdan83 wrote: »

Thanks Everyone. The Police have said its a lost case, understandably.

Trying to make a case to claim it back through insurance, but that isn't proving easy!

Be careful with an insurance claim depending on the amount you are looking at. I'm assuming this is personal or household insurance? If so there is bound to be an excess which is often quite high, then of course any claim, successful or not needs to be declared for the next few years when renewing, and that will affect your future premiums.

RFW · 17 May 2018 at 10:44AM

It may be a dumb question but have you contacted the buyer? I doubt it would help but anything's possible.

ricdan83 · 17 May 2018 at 11:45AM

soolin wrote: »

Be careful with an insurance claim depending on the amount you are looking at. I'm assuming this is personal or household insurance? If so there is bound to be an excess which is often quite high, then of course any claim, successful or not needs to be declared for the next few years when renewing, and that will affect your future premiums.

Absolutely - They are determining right now whether it should be the Laptop or the money that should be replaced. If it is the latter it then does not become worthwhile with the excess I have.

Given counterfeit money for Private sale - any advice?

Comments

Categories

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free