Robber takes advantage of new WaMu design

[RacerX]

Man I walked into one of these recently and had immediate security concerns also.


Robbery victim blames WaMu design



THOMAS JAMES HURST / THE SEATTLE TIMES, 2004
WaMu's casual look includes "teller towers." A California man says the open design made it easy for a robber to target him.



Customer Jaime Quiroz Sanchez, a real-estate agent and landlord from Lancaster, Calif., says the coffeehouse approach to banking got him robbed at knifepoint of $20,805.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2003286071_wamulayout03.html

[texasfury]

.

[mrsung]

it looks like a fucking Copymax, but with large sums of money involved. what a great idea.

[St.James]

"According to Sanchez, the teller conferred with the branch manager, then refused to accept the cash deposit on the grounds his driver's license had expired."

Huh? Depositing cash is dependent on being licensed to drive? I thought money was money?

You think that's fucked up? Wait until the national ID goes into action in 08. You won't be able to do shit without it.

[UFORocks]

"According to Sanchez, the teller conferred with the branch manager, then refused to accept the cash deposit on the grounds his driver's license had expired."

Huh? Depositing cash is dependent on being licensed to drive? I thought money was money?

Thats a bunch of crap, comes right down to poor management of procedure, or lack of procedure all together. The only time a bank should require your ID is when you want to withdraw money, or set up an account, or some similar activity.

[UFORocks]

You think that's fucked up? Wait until the national ID goes into action in 08. You won't be able to do shit without it.

The point here is that he had the ID, and they refused to accept it because it was expired, which makes no sense so long as the name and address matches. Wheather it was a federal or state issued ID has no bearing on the situation.

[lerxstcat]

He didn't have a personal checking or savings account with WaMu, though he did have mortgages and lines of credit. He was trying to combine his cash with his lines of credit to get a $375,000 cashier's check to go buy an office building. So it's not as if he was trying to deposit cash into an existing account.

The design did apparently contribute to the incident, but I can actually see why they wouldn't take the deposit towards his line of credit without a valid ID. He didn't have an account with them that they could put the money into, unless he wanted to pay down his mortgage.

Did he ask for the guard to walk him to his car, and was denied? That would have a material effect on his claim too.

I would not use a bank or S&L that had that setup, that's for sure.

[St.James]

The point here is that he had the ID, and they refused to accept it because it was expired, which makes no sense so long as the name and address matches. Wheather it was a federal or state issued ID has no bearing on the situation.

The point here is if you think an expired ID is ridiculous just wait, it will get worse.

[RacerX]

At least we'll have the black helicopters to accompany us to the car!

[npacheco]

I got refused admittance to a sports bar a couple of months ago because my license had a crack in it and was therefore invalid.

I was livid because my volleyball team was in the end-of-season tournament semi-finals. F#ckin' prick at the door called the manager over to explain to me their liability if they let me in and they get inspected.

I calmly (eventually) explained to the little $hit and the a$$hole manager that I understood their liability and sympathised with their situation. I explained our volleyball team would be changing venues and that every person I knew would be told of this ridiculous situation, "And believe me, I have a lot of beer drinking friends" I told them.

Yeah, they had the reaction you would expect..."So what?"

[lerxstcat]

The point here is if you think an expired ID is ridiculous just wait, it will get worse.

In California you can't bank, buy alcohol, or get into a club with an expired ID by law. That's not the individual institution's policy, it's state law.

[Grandturk]

This setup is no different than any other bank. Whether you're in a line with velvet ropes or standing in the middle of the floor, he still had a stack or money on him that he waved around in front of everyone.

[RacerX]

This setup is no different than any other bank. Whether you're in a line with velvet ropes or standing in the middle of the floor, he still had a stack or money on him that he waved around in front of everyone.

NO.

It was the teller who waved it around. Read article.