Man 'Washes' Currency Notes In Washing Machine To Protect Them From COVID-19, Ends Up Damaging Them

Money laundering--both the crime and the literal cleaning up of money--is never a good idea. A South Korean man found out about the latter the hard way.

According to Associated Press, a person in South Korea but banknotes in a washing machine to wash off possible traces of coronavirus. Officials believe that the loss was considerable.

Representational Image/Twitter/@DANIELMORENO24

The person from Ansan city, near Seoul, placed an unspecified amount of 50,000-won ($42) bills in a washing machine sometime ago. Most of the notes were seriously damaged and the person reached out to the Bank of Korea to find whether it could be exchanged for new bills.

Under bank rules on the exchange of damaged, mutilated and contaminated banknotes, the person was provided with the new currency totalling about 23 million won ($19,320), the Bank of Korea said in a statement, reports AP.

Bank official Seo Jee Woun said the number of 50,000-won bills the bank exchanged at half value was 507. The bank doesn¡¯t count the number of bills that it cannot exchange because the damage is too big.

Also Read: This Indian-Origin Harvard Student Has Found A Safe Way To Decontaminate N95 Masks In Microwave

Repersentational Image/PYMNTS.com

She said bank officials were unaware of the amount of cash the person tried to wash but it was ¡®considerable¡¯.

How much a person can receive in exchange from the bank in such cases depends on the the extent on damage- bank can provide the new currency at face value if the damage is minimal, but at half value or not at all if the damage is significant.

The person has been only identified by the family name Eom. Bank officials gave no further personal information because of privacy law.

Not only washing but people are microwaving money to get rid of coronavirus as well.

Also Read: Professor 'Microwaves' Exam Papers To Disinfect Them, They Catch Fire

AP

A person identified as Kim put bills in a microwave and the bank exchanged Kim¡¯s damaged money with new currency worth 5.2 million won ($4,370).

Needless to mention, you should neither heat up or water down bank notes, because it's paper and it would actually burn or become paper mache.