Man Receives Burned Bills from ATM in Colombia; Incident Linked to La Guajira Robbery

A routine ATM withdrawal in Santa Marta, Colombia, turned into a perplexing incident when a customer received $500,000 in partially burned bills. The man had withdrawn the money from an ATM at an Olímpica supermarket on the Troncal del Caribe. Upon receiving five $100,000 bills, he noticed they were singed, with charred edges and discolored paper, rendering them unacceptable at local businesses.

After days of trying to use the damaged currency and facing rejection from merchants, the man contacted his bank. He was advised to file a claim with Prosegur, the company responsible for transporting and managing the cash supplied to many ATMs nationwide. It was there, according to the customer's account, that he received a surprising explanation.

Prosegur officials reportedly told him the burned bills were part of a batch damaged during a robbery in La Guajira, where some of the cash was partially incinerated. This explanation, while resolving the immediate issue of the damaged money, has sparked broader concerns about the security and quality control processes for cash circulating through ATMs.