Mistakes can cause money in savings to 'evaporate'

Saving money in banks is believed by most people to be safe. However, if you do not understand the basic mistakes in transactions, the money in your account can "evaporate".

According to bank tellers, many customers have used the bank's services for many years, but not everyone is careful about mistakes that can affect their own interests.

Pre-signed documents

Recently, 9 customers in Lao Cai said they asked a person named Le Thi Hue to deposit tens of billions of dong at Agribank Cam Duong branch (Lao Cai). Hue said she had a relationship with the bank and could deposit money at interest rates many times higher than the listed rate.

After gaining the trust of these people, Hue asked them to sign the deposit slip in advance. The amount of money Hue mobilized from each person was up to tens of billions of VND, but the amount of money Hue opened in the bank savings book was only 1 million VND/book.

The amount recorded in the savings book that Hue handed over to the depositor showed signs of being erased, corrected, and the ink color was different from the ink color printed at the Agribank Cam Duong branch.

Hue's fraud was only discovered when customers went to the bank to withdraw their savings.

The incident only came to light when on April 24, a customer went to the Cam Duong branch to withdraw money and discovered that all the savings books that Hue had deposited money in had only 1 million VND in the bank account.

According to bank tellers, the number of customers who agree to sign the deposit slip in advance is not small. Sometimes, for work reasons, they authorize relatives and friends. However, by taking advantage of trust, many similar scams have occurred.

Do not open a savings account directly but ask someone else to deposit it for you

Also in the incident, 9 people were said to have been scammed out of hundreds of billions of dong in Lao Cai. According to Mr. Ngo Van Toan (a victim in the incident), he deposited 77.8 billion dong at Agribank Cam Duong branch through 11 savings books.

However, the actual amount of money in his bank account was only 11 million VND, not 77.8 billion VND as recorded in his savings book.

The savings books that Mr. Toan sent through Hue did not match the actual amount in his bank account.

When asked if Mr. Toan had deposited the money directly at the bank, Mr. Toan said that he had once deposited the money directly and once he had asked someone named Hue to deposit it for him and this person had brought the savings book back to him. Notably, the savings books he had deposited directly were all withdrawable.

VIP customers, no deposit at the counter

Ms. Huyen Nga, a teller at a bank branch in Tay Ho district, said that many VIP customers of the branch deposit money but do not come directly to the counter.

VIP customers often have worked with the bank for a long time, so they often trust and ask the staff to come to their homes, workplaces, or even coffee shops to open savings accounts. Because they do not want to offend VIP customers, bank staff have to follow the arrangements of the customers.

However, this case can easily cause risks to the money in the customer's account. If you encounter dishonest employees, give fake savings books or then do not return the money to the treasury or enter it into the system, the customer's money can easily be misappropriated.

In fact, bank employees all say that they do this for their loyal customers and that all transactions are safe to gain their trust. However, it is not unheard of for such cases to occur.

In 2016, a customer of Eximbank Nghe An branch had all of his savings account money, totaling more than 48 billion VND, "drained" by bank employees. The reason was that the customer trusted the employees and did not deposit money directly at the transaction counter.

Deposit money first, receive the book later

Customers have worked with some close bank employees for many years, so many customers subjectively deposit money to "owe" their savings books or deposit certificates. There have been many cases of property appropriation due to familiar employees being fired or absconding and taking all of the customers' savings. For example, in the case of a former bank cashier in Quang Ninh, after quitting his job, he took advantage of the trust of the people to mobilize tens of billions of dong and then absconded.

Even when receiving a savings book, customers should carefully check the documents, including the bank's stamp and the signatures of the responsible people involved. This is the key to protecting customers when risks or disputes arise.

Change signature

Not too serious, but according to the transaction staff, this is a common error and happens very often with many of their customers.

While the signature to open a savings book is one thing, when the customer comes to close the account, he or she signs another signature, making the reconciliation process difficult and time-consuming.

According to bank employees, maintaining the signature throughout the transaction process is very important, this is the security code that verifies customers' deposits and withdrawals.

“In banking transactions, every stroke of a customer’s handwriting is very valuable, so consistency in signature is something customers need to pay attention to,” said Mr. Duy Ngoc, a transaction officer at a bank in Cau Giay district.

According to VNN