The fact that bank procedures were not followed may lend heavily to this problem, but with that aside…

Our branch has two tellers in the drive-thru. A sum of cash came up missing when teller A counted her cash drawer after returning from the restroom. The teller claims that her drawer balanced prior to the restroom trip. She left the drawer unlock during her restroom visit.
Teller B was questioned and claimed that she did not take the money.
A local police detective investigated and interview both teller A & B. The detective’s statement concludes that there is absolutely no confession and no evidence that either teller took the money. However, the detective states that it is possible that teller B may have taken the money but, reiterates that there is no evidence to that claim.

Would a SAR be required? If so, would it be filed under “mysterious disappearance”?
Or, would this be treated similar to hundreds of other shortages and overages the bank sees every year wher no SAR is filed?

Any comments?

Thank you

WOW. Overloaded is right!


My first thought was since the police were involved ... that a CYA with a SAR for "mysterious disappearance" may be prudent.

But then I think ... what's the dollar amount? who would you list as suspect? (suspect unknown?), then would the threshold for SAR filing be $25,000? Or is it still $0 because employees may or may not have been involved?

Did Teller A conjure up this scheme because of a dislike for Teller B?


I am obviously of no help here ... so I think I'll stop now ...

Did Teller A conjure up this scheme because of a dislike for Teller B?

That's what I question... A perfect way to put the spotlight on to someone else is, First-come First-blame!

Our security officer ran with that initial presumption and focused on Teller B from the start, IMO - based solely on Teller A's accusation.

By the time it got to the local policy detective, our security officer had already planted that seed and the detective’s report clearly reflects that assumption.

Now, Teller A could have taken the money BUT…. No one knows.
Teller B waited on three customers that had large transaction (exceeding the $$ missing). Teller B claims that she contacted the customers to make sure she didn’t hand out too much money to one of them.. Is the customer being honest?

Just too many ????????

Any other comments?

Sorry,

I got tellr A & B switch around in that last part...

Or did they split the money between them?

Terminate teller A for the loss, and if they were in kahoots, she just may flip and turn on B as well, and if so, terminate both.

I think I would file the SAR as well.

Don't you have cameras on the tellers at the drive up?

I would definitely terminate or reprimand teller A for leaving the drawer unlocked and violating policy. I would also file a SAR for 'mysterious disappearance'.

It comes down to what you believe... If you believe either of the employees took the money, there is no dollar threshold and a SAR is required. Check insider abuse and mysterious disappearance.

If you are not certain which employee did it, then you might as well list them both as suspects.

Between the two of them, Teller A would be my candidate.

Just curious: Why would anyone count out the drawer immediately before and after going to the restroom? There are a number of possible answers, but I'd like to hear the one that was offered.

Ken beat me to it. I was wondering the same thing. It simply sounds too contrived. Does the teller have a history of verifying his/her cash this frequently?

I asked Overloaded the exact same question yesterday! (great minds think alike)


Back in my day of being a teller - if you left your drawer unlocked & money was missing ... you took it!

It does seem funny that she is so meticulous on this - and then leaves the drawer unlocked.

my immediate suspicious went out to Teller A...glad to see so many others agree. Way to suspect.

Count money
Go to bathroom
conveniently leave drawer unlocked
come back and count money....

yeah right!

I believe I agree with Ken Pegasus, except in my analysis a SAR is even more likely, because rather than it being a question of what you "believe" it is a question of what you "suspect" or "should suspect."

I think I would double check the bathroom too....

Sorry… I have been away for a while!

I'm still waiting on the security officer to give us the final report concluding his investigation. He called me yesterday and is now not so sure who took what or if the $$ were mistakenly given out to one of the three customers the teller waited on before going to the restroom.

I'm not sure (at this point) how often the teller counts the till. They are trained to re-count during slow or down time just to be careful, but I don't know how often that is. Maybe the security report will reveal more information.

About a SAR. One could presume to say every time a teller is short (no dollar amount-insider SAR) that a 'mysterious disappearance' occurred. However, we have 40+ branches and have a teller shortage daily+...
I can't imagine that a SAR would be required. If we suspect that one took the money, then yes, file. However, would that require some sort of evidence of unusual activity? A shortage is NOT unusual for tellers. Unfortunately, not following procedure, although rare, is not unusual either, just lazy…

Any thoughts.

I would publish a set of requirements for SARs, such as:

If a teller is fired for an over/short, you need to be notified in writing.

If a teller is over/short to such an extent that disciplinary action occurs (i.e., two over/shorts in one month, or any over/short in excess of $500), then you need to be notified in writing.

That eliminates you having to personally review every daily over/short, trying to determine which ones should cause you to suspect theft, which ones were attributable to teller error, and which ones might be cleared up by further review.

I think it all boils down to "suspicion". If you suspect the teller was innocent of any crime ... then don't file.

If you suspect the teller is guilty ... then file.

I would definitely get yourself in the loop of tellers fired for overages/shortages.

I would file a SAR and likely list Teller A as suspect. There is no dollar limit when suspicions involve insiders, and it certainly appears that you have had a mysterious disappearance that involves one of two insiders. You are not saying she took the money, you are documenting a suspicion she may have taken the money based on facts. The bottom line is that the money was in her custody and it is missing.