A FEW students of Al-Aleem Medical College in Lahore, amongst whom one was my daughter, used the ATM of a bank’s Ali Block Garden Town branch to withdraw funds for their final professional examination fee in order to deposit it at a nearby branch of the designated bank.

However, when they attempted to deposit the fee, one Rs5,000 note was rejected as counterfeit by the teller, who advised the students to take up the matter with the bank branch from which they had withdrawn the money.

When they approached the operations manager there, the students faced a straight refusal to acknowledge that the note had come from the branch ATM. The official kept emphasising that post-withdrawal, it was the responsibility of the customers. The conduct of the official was unprofessional and disrespectful, but more than that, the matter raises concerns about how individuals using ATMs can differentiate between genuine and counterfeit notes. It potentially exposes the people to financial exploitation.

Rizwan Bashir Vaseer
Lahore

Published in Dawn, January 29th, 2024