ATMs serve counterfeit bills to some customers

NEW YORK (WABC) -- Counterfeit bills discovered in automatic teller machines at two Chase branches in Manhattan may have been put there by someone servicing the machines.

One of those Chase branches is located on 57th Street at 7th Avenue and the other at 55th Street and 9th Avenue.

"I think we just assume that especially since it's coming from a major bank that it's legitimate money," customer Howard Podell said.

Teller machines are designed to detect counterfeit money. Only two customers got the bogus bucks when they made withdrawals.

According to Chase, "The ATMs caught nearly all of the fake bills. The small number of customers who received them were made whole immediately."

Police suspect that 26 year old Jean Carlo Pena, a technician that works for the company that services the ATMs, used the counterfeit bills to replace money that he had allegedly stolen.

That company, NCR Corporation, told us this afternoon "NCR takes ATM fraud very seriously. We are cooperating with local law enforcement to gather the facts and we continue to assist them in any way we can.

While some bank customers told us they'll now keep a closer eye on money from the ATM.

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