KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan announced a probe on Tuesday in response to concerns raised by a supposedly bank employee’s video depicting unfinished, half-printed banknotes that went viral on social media.
A man identifying himself as the manager of the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) branch in Model Colony is shown in a video that went viral on social media. He appears to be holding two Rs. 1,000 notes that are blank on the back.
“I’m not sure how many bundles have already been shipped out. We learned about it because a consumer returned these, he explained. He then zoomed in on a table where a second bank employee was sitting and going through a bundle of cash notes. One letter after the other, the worker flipped through, the backs of them all blank.
According to SBP, the issue is being looked into to determine its validity.
The manager was heard on the video saying, “Every packet has at least two notes like this.”
Dawn attempted to get in touch with an NBP representative to get his story, but she received no reply.
In a matter of hours, the video gained thousands of views and comments on Facebook, Instagram, and X (previously Twitter), indicating that it had gone viral on social media.
“Take extreme caution while withdrawing cash from ATMs and banks. Advocate Khalid Khan Lodhi, a verified X user, wrote, “Verify and check each and every note personally,” below the original video.
“This is the printing staff of Pakistan Security Printing Press Karachi’s negligence, and State Bank is equally accountable,” a different user wrote in response to a video that was shared on Facebook by the public account “Karachi Se.”
Facebook user Faisal Butt said, “If these are new bundles, then this is extremely irresponsible behavior by the State Bank.”
“State Bank of Pakistan ought to take significant action against this,” said a different remark underneath the article.
Additionally, a lot of people posted the video on Facebook in various groups. The bank manager came under fire from some for sharing a video on social media rather than contacting the reporting line.
User Umar Farooq posted a remark under the video on “Bankers Forum,” a Facebook page devoted to information about Pakistani banks: “The cash should have been sorted before the bundles went out.”
User Abdullah Soomro wrote in the same group, “Instead of posting a video on social media, report directly to your bank’s cash house.”
Upon being contacted, the top spokesperson for the SBP stated that the case was being looked into to determine its veracity. He remarked that this was an uncommon occurrence that only occurred once in a blue moon.
He said that, if accurate, this only applied to one bank location.
