Thursday, September 20, 2007

Bank invites rip-offs

A man deposited a bank draft which 48 hours later turned out to be a fake. The teller accepted the deposit and allowed the customer to withdraw some of the $1.5 million face value of the draft. [Montreal Gazette}

A court case by the National Bank of Canada to recover the monies paid out on behalf of the customer was dismissed by the judge who said the bank's employee should have been more diligent.

The bank's lawyer is horrified and plans to appeal. Claiming it's a matter of principle he says if the ruling prevails the bank "would have the burden of verifying bank drafts against the issuer."

Wow. Guess this means you can cheerfully deposit fake bank drafts in the National Bank, withdraw the money,
and walk off with the cash. At least until the appeal is heard. Wonder if anyone's told the Nigerian scammers about this potential goldmine?