South Korean tries washing money over coronavirus fears, suffers major loss

The coronavirus scare still continues among the people. Nowadays, sanitising and washing each and every item is a must, but literal cleaning up of money is not a good idea.

According to The Associated Press, a person living in Ansan, near Seoul had put an unspecified sum of 50,000-won bills in the washing machine. He made this act only to ensure that the notes were disinfected from the dangerous coronavirus. Some of the money was badly damaged, and the individual contacted the Bank of Korea to find out if it could be exchanged for new bills.

The person was known only by the name of the family Eom. Bank officials did not provide any more personal information citing privacy law.

According to the reports, "The money was offered by relatives, friends and others during a family funeral."

The Bank of Korea said in a statement said that "According to the bank's rules on the exchange of damaged, mutilated and tainted currencies, the individual was received new currency totalling some 23 million won (USD 19,320)."

Bank official Seo Jee Woun said that the number of 50,000-won bills exchanged by the bank was 507. She said the bank doesn't calculate the amount of bills that can't be exchanged because the loss is too high.

She further added that the bank officials didn't know the exact amount of money that was laundered in the washing machine and asserted that the loss is considered to be severe.

The final decision will be with the central bank on how much it would like to exchange in a case like this and it depends on how badly the bank notes are affected. The bank may 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.