Korean Job Discussion Forums

[oatmeal]

First time in 16 years since owning a bank account in my life that I have ever been this forgetful and left the cash in the machine!

The bank (NH) is right next to my school and we're in a small town so everyone knows each other. The bank workers know me also and that I'm the english teacher at the school next door. I go to this bank quite often. After I made some bill payments at the teller, I went to the bank machine (there's only 2 machines) to withdraw some more cash. I input 200,000 won but what happens is the cash doesn't come out at the same time as the card and receipt. The card and receipt comes out first. So I think what happened to me was I got preoccupied with my bank card and receipt, as I pulled it out of the machine, looked at my balance and that probably made me forget I wasn't finished yet. By habit, I always tuck in my card and receipt in my wallet and I'm ready to go. But I forgot to wait for the 200,000 won to process and open up!!!

I don't know why I didn't even hear that alert bell either. Nobody seemed to hear it or tell me about it either. I walked next door into the NH Mart (it's attached to the bank) bought a 1,000 won hamster story cheese stick pack. Even during all that time, nobody came to tell me I forgot my cash!

The alert bell must've been going on for a while unless someone else came in and got blessed with free 200,000 won in cash waiting for them to take it.

Well, I'm wondering now if it's possible for me to go back on Monday (since this occurred on Friday before lunch and the bank I believe is closed on the weekend), and tell them what happen, and basically that I had not taken 200,000 cash out. They should still have the camera/cctv footage of me on that day right? I would imagine the footage is kept for at least a period of a few weeks or months before they erase everything?

If they can see that I in fact left as soon as I got my card and receipt they'd know I didn't take the cash as the cash ALWAYS comes about 10-15 seconds after the card and slip is given (which is something I always didn't like from the beginning - they should give the cash, card, and slip all at the same time).

Wouldn't they also be able to see who came in next and took the 200,000 won? Surely they must have this on footage.

I'm hoping that either 1) I can still get my 200,000 won in cash if the video clearly shows that I didn't take it out and someone else did or 2) They know who the next customer that came in and took the cash without telling the bank is since it's a small town and almost everyone is local....they would know who it is, and next time tell the person to pay up as they got it on camera or 3) maybe the machine holds onto the cash if no one takes it out after a certain amount of time and then simply re-deposits it back into my account (I don't have internet banking with NH so I can't check my account yet to confirm if that's what may have happened hopefully).

Lastly, if there's no way I can get my 200,000 won back, I honestly can accept this because this was CLEARLY my own stupid, forgetful, lack of focus, fault. There's no one to blame really but me so I can take it like a man and forget that $200. My fault. I take responsibility.


But of course, I'd still like to try to see if I can get it back by going to the bank on Monday and telling them what happened and asking them to check the CCTV video.

Has this happened to anyone before at ANY bank? Did you get your money back or was it just a blessed gift for the next lucky fella to use the machine?

[Milwaukiedave]

No, it's gone.

[singerdude]

If you don't take the money within a certain time period, it will probably get sucked back into the machine. I understand that ATMs in the US do this, but not sure about Korea. I would assume so. You may have to contact the bank to get your money back. Unless of course there was someone waiting to use the machine and that person stole your money.

[optik404]

You don't really think the bank is going to give you $200 back if someone else came and took it, right?

[oatmeal]

actually, yes, I do think it's possible.

A) IF someone took the money, they'd know exactly who it was as the camera would have caught the next person. This means, we can identify who it was and pull up their ID, bank account, information etc., report it to the police and I'm sure at that point, the person will have just returned the money to me, or some sort of bank insurance would cover this.

Nobody was behind me at the time that I left. It's not to say that nobody came in within seconds after, but then again, maybe it could have been minutes before the next person came in. Now there was someone beside me and he could have heard the alert sound and just take the money after, but again, he just finished using the machine beside mine.

The camera footage, the exact date time stamp as to who accessed the machine at the time I was there would again give away the ID of the person and his actions on camera, then once again, in my advantage, file a police report with evidence and ID of the person, and easily get the money back.

B) If nobody was around and the machine gobbles the money back in, perhaps it's already back into my account. But I kind of doubt this. I've never seen or stuck around long enough to see what the machine will do if the money is not removed within a certain amount of time.

Does it just stay open forever making the alert noise? I kind of doubt that too. So, it's still possible it just kept the money and the records will have shown the money was kept by the machine or re-deposited back into my account. I'll have to confirm this on monday.


For the couple posters above who cynically answered NO, you may be right, but then again, you may just be one of those people who really don't give damn about another person's misfortunes and just prefer to laugh in my face and say, 'forget it dude, it's gone'. Nothing is gone.

For me, I'm more interested in the process and principle of this more than the 200 bucks I lost. As I said, this is something I take full responsibility for and blame only myself for whatever reason being distracted and forgetful. But that doesn't mean I'm just going to let it go without at least investigating and asking my bank to check the cctv footage and confirm.

If I have CCTV footage, then I have a case and I can file a police report with the person's video/picture, ID, bank account info, address, etc. (of course assuming the bank will release it). The bank my decide to just erase all the tapes or give me some excuse and say we don't keep cctv footage after 12 hours or 24 hours lol or something ridiculous like that.

I believe they are supposed to keep the footage for at least 3 months. Not sure what the policies in NH and Korean banks are.

In any case, if I don't get it back, I'm not going to dwell on this and be down about it. Now, I'm just interested in the principle of it. I want to see who took it, or what happened after I left.

Also, don't forget this isn't ANY bank. It's my local bank right next to the school whom we have a relationship with. All the staff or most of them know each other, they bank next door, we even held events with the members and manager of that bank at our school events and bbqs. It's a small town. It's very localized and very specific. There's a 90% chance they'll know or be able to identify whoever it was that took the cash (if it was taken at all).

It's a really small bank. Only 2 tellers and 2 machines right next to each other. I literally finished paying my bills at the teller (only 1 teller working at the time) and then took 5 steps over to the machine lol. I'm still wondering why nobody in the bank heard the alert sound as it should make it if money is left in there untaken. Of course, I was already well on my way to NH mart and completely had a memory lapse and my brain must've thought I had the money with me so completely don't recall ever hearing an alert sound.

In any case, I'll update what happens next week.

[Jake_Kim]

All bank ATMs these days have CCTV cameras embedded in the machine filming the customer's face. Unlike those bubbles on the ceiling, there's no way one could hide his face from these without wearing a balaclava.

Although forgetting one's own money isn't really a constructively positive event, it happens all the time, and the bank isn't new to such a situation. One typical ATM protocol is that the machine keeps the cash withdrawal slot open for 1 full minute, and any unclaimed cash gets automatically recovered back into the machine AND the customer's account. If so, credit balance will be recorded as '현금미수취분', which simply means 'Cash not retrieved'.

So, you just need to check your balance first before you bother to go talk to bank employees in person.

Even in the unfortunate event someone did come in and pocketed your cash, the bank can easily track the person down and have him charged for theft. (There have been numerous cases, unsurprisingly) All in all, you're entitled to recover the full amount despite of your mistake.

[oatmeal]

Thank you for your positive response Jake Kim! Actually, this morning I went back to NH to check my bank account and thankfully you were right! It was re-deposited back into my account as probably no one had come after me and the 1 minute or so time allotment had expired.

That's a relief.

Something must be wrong with me because after I checked my balance to see that the the 200,000 won was re-deposited, I got into my car and a man came out of the bank telling me I left my card! HAHA.

I thanked him graciously. Actually, without going into any details, I've had a few issues come up in my life personally and that must be affecting my mind and focus right as I guess when I'm under duress, I tend to be forgetful.

To make matters worse, on my drive home, a poor little kitten ran onto the highway and a truck swerved out of the way just missing it, but then I was next behind the truck and I saw this little kitten make a quick 180 turn back the other way into my car and i felt it crushed under my tires. I'm a huge animal lover and this just sucked as there was nothing I could do. First time in life again that I've ever ran over a living animal.

What a nasty couple days.

[CrikeyKorea]

What happens is if no one gets the money the slot closes and the machine shuts down (temporarily) someone ahs to physically come and reset the machine and your money is usually put back into your account- probably worth checking your account and checking if the money is back in the account...

[le-paul]

[atwood]

To the OP, sounds like you've got something on your mind that is distracting you.

Now that you've recognized that, try to take everything a bit slower and more cautiously until you've got your life back in order and everything is copacetic.

Good luck!

[oatmeal]

thanks atwood. Yes, good advice. I really should slow down, take a breather, and focus more at hand. Even if my mind is weighed down with personal life issues right now, I shouldn't be so careless and forget to take my money next time lol.

[Troglodyte]

[schwa]

They'd redeposit your fingers back into your account.

Used to be people actually got locked into atm booths at shutdown time.

[yodanole]

Yeah, I actually found myself temporarily trapped in an ATM booth once. Some onlookers were amused for a while, but they did flag down some cops, who were also amused .......... but let me out ....... eventually.

I wasn't really looking forward to free accommodations for the evening....

[Stan Rogers]