Woman cashes 14 $20 gold coins at bank

I'm LMAO at this, I have to tell you guys. Supposing it were a 12-year-old kid seeking to deposit these into his Junior Savers Account? Don't tell me you're just going to hang that on it's not your responsibility and it's perfectly legal. That's a 12-year-old's answer. How do you feel after having taken advantage of a 12-year-old like that; every time you look at these things?

If you have knowledge, you tell them. Even if it's one silver half out of a $10 roll. No matter who it is. I don't care if they're 12, 120, or in-between. It's called emotional maturity and it's the adult thing to do. Period.

Still, as an adult, I can appreciate the silly, twisted rationalizations of some of the younger or less-mature adult members, here. But I hang this on one thing: knowledge. If I have it, I share it. And I sleep better for that, too.

 

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it turns out that the young woman who tried to cash these coins in was arrested for theft. She was befriended by a young woman, whose parents decided to help her out and take her in temporarily.

After hearing about the coins they decided to check their safe, and found the coins to be missing. They called authorities and the bank has said that it will return the coins for $280 in cash.

 

If they are 12 with a $20 gold piece I'd call the cops! Most of us say we wouldn't have done it. You just have to understand the law does not protect stupid people from doing stupid things.

 

with that attitude u r not going to get rich by exploiting others and then blaming the people you exploited for being dumb.

 

I think were more mad at the teller than we are at the women who STOLE them. You can't legislate morality.

The truth of the matter is people take advantage of people all the time. How many of you have seen those commercials that say send us your scrap gold? They buy the penny weight not the gram.

Many of the people that join us cause a loved one passed away. If they hadn't come here for advice chances are they would have taken their collections & albums to some one who would have only bought the keys & paid may a 3rd or less of what they should have gotten.

We can be mad & blame others for taking advantage of us but the truth is you share the blame by not checking things out. Some lessons are hard to learn & can be costly.

 

I would be surprised is there was not a bank policy of some kind, perhaps in the "customer concern" and "customer friendly" section, in which tellers were not required to be friendly, respectful and courteous to customers (at minimum). Most people, including managers, would feel that this would include acting to justice in this kind of instance, and noting the real value of the coins.

I would be surprised if tellers offered up the juvenile response of "I was just following the rules", or blind rule obedience, in such an extraordinary instance.

 

Yes it does, but there is also a section in there...in every bank that specifies what your job is. Your job is to make the bank money, not stand there and discuss coin values to discourage the deposit of it. The real villain in this story is not the bank teller but the thief who stole the coins. Now, I know this is an extreme example and the coins were clearly stolen from day 1. I'm not saying I would have taken then gold...that's crazy. I probably would have called the police right there.

Now, those of you who think its immoral to not tell a customer if there is one 40% silver half in a roll...you certainly have your head in the clouds (or somewhere else). Tellers don't stand there with a customer at their window and go through every coin to make sure there is no silver. I have been a coin collector for years and I didn't do that. That would make the customer wait. I looked through my coins when we had slow times. That's when I would make most of my discoveries.

With this logic, it is immoral to not point out every star note and wheat back cent as in many cases...they have a collector value more than face. And yes, when I was a teller I looked at the serial as I was counting so I could see if any stars were there. I sat many of those aside to buy for myself. Was I immoral for not telling the depositor that there was a circulated $1 star note in their money? Of course not.

 

Oh, you're right, the "ethicalness" can be taken to the extreme of point out star notes and such. But the glaring gold situation is much different: as obvious as the nose on my face. So it calls much more for involvement.

There are reasons for rules, and we know that blind obedience to rules is not always the right way to go.

 

The coins were clearly stolen...so to me that's enough to decide what I should do. I am one of a few people to actually stand in the window and work as a teller. I have seen so many people on this board stand on their soap boxes and preach their "Holier than Thou" views on these sort of things and I find it irritating. If you read this thread and the other one about it, before it was discovered the she was a thief...everyone here knew she was an elderly lady coming from church and had a little trouble at the store and the evil teller took advantage of her. Now, that it is exposed that she was actually 24 and a thief the teller is still the villain. I know that it was wrong to take the gold...but trust me, this board will jump at the chance to tear a teller apart. I would just like to know where the line is.

Here is an example, when I was a teller I came across a $5 star note that was CHCU from a print run of 640,000. I knew it was a short run when I found it (but I didn't know the exact number)...so I knowingly set it aside for myself. Was that wrong? I don't think so. But, I'm sure others here will disagree.

 

yet when a ceo decides to sell stock becoz they were going down people scream thief. clearly in some positions its ok to take advantage of your position and in some its not.

This is not a swipe at camaro. i am just saying there should be a level playing field for everyone either you are allowed to take advantage of your position or ur not. what we call tellers here who get into this kind of behavior here - corrupt

this is exactly what they do keep all the collectible stuff aside and then sell it to a dealer. of course the rules are clear cut here a teller cannot under any circumstances make purchases from the bank but in the usa such a rule does not exist so it leaves a lot of room for interpretation and there is no place to draw the line.

 

But Spock that is insider trading and that is illegal. Once it becomes public then they can sell. Remember Martha Stewart?

Life's not fair! It's sad enough we have laws in NY were spitting on the side walk is illegal as well as back pockets are illegal in SC. We can't legislate free will.

The line was drawn a long time ago. We can sit here & judge the teller who is even reported by fellow workers that he did notify management.

Camero I'm with you on this. Heck even though I wouldn't have taken them due to my own guilt my fiance would have. An you know what I don't have a problem with that! Either way this teller went he would have been the bad guy! Bad for taking them or Bad for helping a thief!

Frankly the original owner isn't to bright either. They didn't keep them safe or know they were missing. All my gold is in a safe except my engagement ring.

This conversation is more like a hanging of a teller even though he wasn't the thief & letting the thief go. There were lots of mistakes made should we list them all & crucify each of them? The owners for not securing their belongings, The thief for spending them at face, the manager for improper handling, the teller for cashing them out & going to a dealer....

 

You guys look too much at the teller; the bank is the real entity that has the concern here---how its employees interact with their customers and the general public.

 

the teller had to know they were stolen as well. if his conscience was clear he would have called the cops right away or refused to take the gold but he chose the dealer route. In no way was he different from the thief. if a steals from b does it give us right to steal from A just coz the goods were stolen before. so either way you look at it the teller acted dishonorably and he got what he deserved, so did the thief. we have a term for that its called comeuppance.

you are right you cant legislate free will but u can legislate the consequences of that and thats why it happened. the us is the greatest country on the earth coz its not full of crooks and conmen and when people try to change that they deal with the consequences

 

How does that work? Can a teller not be a customer (account holder) at the bank they work for? What I did when I found something I wanted in my cash box (almost always a star note) was I would transfer that note to another teller. Then, I would make a withdrawal and use that teller. I was not allowed to buy money from my own box nor was I allowed to make transactions on my own account. So, I had one of my coworkers process a normal bank transaction for me (usually when I was on lunch) and then he would give me the specific notes I wanted.

 

they only have one teller here and if you are found breaking the rules u can go to jail (along with the coworker who helped you, it would be a manager or equivalent and damn if they would collude with you, but the way they get around that is they get the dealers to open their accounts there and then get the kickbacks later on and its a shame). the rules are pretty clear cut u do not use ur position to further your coin currency business/hobby etc.

you are looking at in terms of one note one coin etc. a typical branch delas with a few hundred thousand notes everyday here even if you made 25cents a stack u would make more than a few hundred with this dirty business every day. trust me u will make sure that if you are the teller that you remain the teller. every 2 years the tellers are transferred between branches but the nexus is hard to break

 

You got that right. And let me get even more real. There’s a disproportionality when you’re talking a teller-agent of a bank and a customer on the one hand and a buyer vs. a seller in a business transaction on the other hand. And you don’t have to grade every coin, that’s a cop-out bordering on the ridiculous. If it’s silver or gold, and you know it, you should point that out, because that’s something people who are non-collectors can readily appreciate and understand. Especially in these hard economic times.

I'll just wrap this up with this because I have to get back to work. My wife was a teller for some 20 years. What some of the young and part-time teller-members here are just learning, she forgot years ago. If the customer were your wife, mother, or sister, would you take the coins from them for face value and throw them into the machine at the end of the shift? Remember, in the first instance, once those coins go into that cage, they’re the property of the bank. And banks have cameras. And the so-called “eye-in-the sky” sees everything...including the cages. And they have detectives. In fact, I know one, since grade school.

PS: Back to the story, interesting these turned out to be the fruits of a theft/burglary. I guess the gal was trying to fence these through the bank. :rolling:

 

Yes, they do become bank property. But, for face value they can be purchased from the bank in the form of a withdrawal. I don't think anyone here has suggested that tellers take in deposits and pocket the one's they like without regard to the bank. But, if they purchase them from the bank at a later time and the bank gets the same amount in return...the bank doesn't care.

So, let me ask you this. Should I have pointed out all the star notes I came across in my transactions? I noticed them when I was counting the bills and set them in a different stack with the customer right there with the full intention of buying. Many of those notes might were worth a little more than face...just like the couple silver halves I found when I was there.

 

When I worked at the register at Sam's should I have told the customer that their beat up wheat penny was worth double it's value?

Normally they don't care.

Also how is a teller to know if the person is a thief? Mind reading is not a requirement. The bank manager even said he wanted to give them back to the person, aka the thief.

By the way because something is illegal in your country doesn't mean it should or have to apply to another.

We buy all day in our shop. Our justice system is innocent until proven guilty. So some kid who looks like trouble comes in with scrap gold. We need to jump to accusations? call the cops? Are you kidding? We require an ID & that they must be 18 or older but... there are many places that don't do that. Because we abide by the law we have to do paperwork. Those that don't do what they want. Yay! It's incidents like these that just grate on ones nerve.

By the way not every teller cares about if a coin is or isn't silver gold etc.... And many of them hate those coins and are excited to have someone take them.

 

OK, at what dollar amount does it become unethical?

 

I'll say at anything over a buck three-eighty.