South Korean Put Money into Washing Machine to Clean; Most of Them Became Unrecognisable

It’s a well-known fact that germs are all around us and can be transferred via the surfaces of physical objects, and even in the air.

Following the COVID-19 outbreak, more people have now started to be more psycho-aware and sensitive of this little fact, considering that we exchange money with one another on a daily basis for things as simple as buying groceries or cai png.

Although the World Health Organisation has debunked the beliefs that banknotes may transmit the virus, there will be people who live by the saying: Better safe than sorry.

So what do you do when you want to clean your money? Well, as one particular man thought, put it in the washing machine, of course!

Money “Laundering”

A South Korean citizen who goes by the name of Eom decided to wash some of his 50,000 won (about SGD $57.80) banknotes in his washing machine earlier in the year.

And of course, things didn’t end well for him, seeing as paper and water should never mix, especially paper that you want to keep intact.

It was unspecified just how much money he put in there.

Let’s just say that Eom regretted his choice when the money came out.

Eom immediately contacted the Bank of Korea (because, why not, right?) and some of the notes were in good enough condition to be exchanged for new ones.

507 Notes Exchanged

Seo Jee Woon, the bank official who was put in charge of handling this very bizarre case, commented that 507 pieces of 50,000 won notes were exchanged at half-value, while the remainder of Eom’s notes were too damaged.

The total amount that Eom exchanged his damaged notes for came up to a whopping 23 million won, or SGD $26,582.53, which is already A LOT.

The bank official stated that they were also unaware of how many notes Eom had originally washed, as the bank does not count notes that cannot be exchanged, and that his loss had been “considerable”.

It Was Actually Condolence Money

Allegedly, the money Eom had tried to clean with this very innovative method happened to be condolence money given to him from relatives and friends at a funeral when a family member passed away.

With the substantial losses he suffered, he must be feeling even more grave.

Moral of the story? Paper and water do not mix.

Our condolences to Eom and we hope he’ll eventually forget about this incident in the future.