Alert as AIB bank gives customer forged £20 note

September 1991

AN ALERT for forged £20 notes was this week issued by a Kerry bank after an official accidently handed one forgery over to a worker cashing his wages cheque.

The forgery was discovered when the worker went to pay his ESB bill from the cash he had received for the wages cheque at the Castle Street Tralee branch of the AIB.

At the ESB office in Edward Street, Tralee, he handed in his money to accounts clerk Kate Mulcahy from Camp who noticed that it was faded.

She joked that the note must have been washed, but a closer examination discovered that it had no watermark or metal strip running down the centre.

He returned to the AIB bank and returned the note to the cashier who had originally served him. He then received a legal note in exchange.

“It was faded and fake looking and had no silver line or watermark,” said ESB accounts clerk Kate Mulcahy who spotted the forgery.

Now baffled bank officials have issued an alert to be on the look-out for further forgeries, although they say it is most likely an isolated case.

“If you were aware that there were a number of forged notes around the place you would be on the alert and we will be watching £20 notes from now on,” said Castle Street AIB Bank Manager Rupert Swan, who confirmed that the note was handed over the counter before being recovered later.

Mr Swan was unable to confirm whether or not a report had been made to gardai.

But a garda spokesman said they received no report of the discovery of a forgery within the past week.

Mr Swan said gardai are normally alerted to the discovery of forgeries and said the help of the gardai would be sought to try to trace the source of the one in question, which he described as “an excellent reproduction”.

“This could come in from any source within the whole country. It could have even come from Dublin.

“I have never seen it happen before. It could be here since the Festival,” he said.

When the forgery was discovered an immediate search was ordered at the bank and no other forgeries were found.

As hundreds of thousands of pounds pass through each bank branch there are no individual checks carried out on notes, according to banking sources.

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