Counterfeit cash found in New York bank machines

An alarm has alerted two Manhattan bank branches to more than $100,000 of forged money in their ATMs.

The two New York branches of Chase bank became aware of the fakes after being alerted by an alarm and customers who withdrew the forged money. Investigation of the two cash points revealed $110,000 (in poorly forged bank notes with printing on just one side.

Police are now looking to question an employee of an electronics company that works with the cash machines, The New York Times reports. Investigators believe someone put fake notes in the machines to replace stolen cash. The two affected cash points were $110,000 short.

Chase cash points have a system for distinguishing forged notes from real ones and this filtered out most of the fakes before they reached the public. Canisters designed to capture fake cash were full of forged notes but at least two counterfeit bills got through and were withdrawn.