Man says bank gave him counterfeit money

MAIDEN, N.C. — A local man contacted Whistleblower 9, saying his bank gave him counterfeit money.

“I’m unemployed at the moment so a hundred bucks is a lot to me right now,” Ryan Stavrou said.

Stavrou said he lost the $100 while trying to pay his mortgage. He withdrew several hundred dollars in cash from a Fifth Third Bank in Maiden, at the drive-through.

He kept the money in the envelope and drove directly to a Bank of America drive-through in Denver, and got some bad news.

“They said, ‘You have a fake hundred dollar bill,’” Stavrou said. “I said, ‘I just got this money from Fifth Third.’”

He went back to Fifth Third to ask what happened.

“They said, ‘Once the money leaves the property, you're responsible for it,’” Stavrou said.

A spokesman for Fifth Third Bank said there is no guarantee workers will check large bills when they come in to see if they are counterfeit. They still questioned whether this bill came from their branch, and await the results of the Secret Service investigation.

But since Eyewitness News started calling, they agreed to give Stavrou a $100 credit on his account.

The North Carolina Bankers Association told Whistleblower 9 there is no regulation that banks check every bill they come across.

The Fifth Third spokesman said you should ask your bank to check and make sure the money you're getting is real.

That’s something Stavrou will do from now on.

“I’m going to have them check the bills,” he said.

WSOC