Teller Huntington Bank called the police, when a visitor-an African American tried to cash a paycheck. After the story spread on social networks with the hashtag #BankingWhileBlack, the Bank had to apologize for the actions of its employee.
1 Dec 30-year-old Paul Makkos from Cleveland went to the Bank branch in the suburbs in Brooklyn (Ohio) — to cash a check worth slightly more than $1 thousand. According to Macconi, it provided 2 forms of identification and their fingerprints using the standard procedure for customers who do not have Bank accounts. However, the employees of Huntington Bank said that the check is real. They tried several times to call the employer of the visitor, to receive confirmation, but he didn’t answer. In the end, the man in the cashing of the check was refused.
Frustrated Makkos went to his car, but there it was waiting for another «surprise».
«I would sit in the truck when a police car [stopped] before me, and he (the officer. — USA.one) said: «get out of the car»,» said Maccoun in an interview with Cleveland 19 News, noting that he would like to hear an apology from the Bank for racial discrimination.
#BankingWhileBlack Cleveland man alleges racial profiling after bank refuses to cash check, calls 911
Full story here: https://t.co/xAld70WugW pic.twitter.com/V5pLkSn3Y7
— Marketing Gurus (@MarketingGurus2) December 19, 2018
As it turned out, the Bank teller called the police, saying that the visitor has a fake check.
«He was trying to cash a check and the check is fake. It doesn’t match our records,» said an employee of the 911 operator in audio recordings obtained by NBC News. «He knows that you called 911?» — asked the operator. The cashier answers: «No.»
According to the police report, officers were able to contact the employer of Macouns, which confirmed that the check is real.
On Tuesday, December 18, the chief of police of Brooklyn Scott Mielke said that since July the Bank branch, where detained Macconi, there were 11 cases of fraud. Yesterday, on December 19, the press Secretary Huntington Bank confirmed this information, saying to NBC News that they bring to the affected my sincerest apologies for the «extremely unpleasant incident».
«We take responsibility for contacting the police, as well as for their actions against Mr. Macconi, — said the representative of the Bank. — Anyone who comes to the Department of Huntington should feel very welcome. Unfortunately, in this case this did not happen, and we very much [about it], sorry.»
According to the Bank representative, they tried several times to contact Mikonam to apologize, but he’s not answering his phone.
