Grantham man urges people to be vigilant after withdrawing a fake £10 note from cash machine

A 68-year-old man is warning people to be extra vigilant after he withdrew a counterfeit £10 note at a cash machine in Grantham.

John Lindsay was using the free standing cash machine kiosk, on Westgate, to withdraw £20 last Tuesday afternoon (September 7) when he ran into difficulty.

He said: “I needed to get some money out for the car wash. I requested £20 and removed my bank card as normal. I heard the usual noise that indicates that the machine is getting ready to dispense money but nothing came out.”

It wasn’t until John looked more closely at the machine that he realised that he could see the corner of a £10 note.

He added: “I managed to just about grab it to pull it out and ended up ripping it. I knew straight away that it didn’t feel right. It just felt like flimsy paper.”

John took the £10 to two banks who both confirmed that it was counterfeit and that his account had been debited £20.

John left the money with his own bank for an investigation to be carried out adding: “I have been checking my bank everyday as they were concerned that my card might have been compromised in some way. The bank have also confirmed that I will be reimbursed my £20."

He is urging people to be vigilant, adding: “Someone else might not have realised anything was wrong."

The machine is operated by CashZone, who are owned and operated by Cardtronics.

A spokesperson said: “All the notes in this machine come from a Bank of England accredited cash centre. They undertake the most rigorous anti-forgery checks before loading the notes into cassettes for us to install directly into the ATM.

“All UK ATM transactions are governed by LINK rules and there is an official process for claims of money not being dispensed properly: the customer should contact their bank in order to register a claim which will allow us to investigate the matter fully.”