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Please bear with me I have never posted on a website like this for advice before.

I've been living in this apartment in Phnom Penh for almost eight months and today I noticed there was a manila envelope stuffed in the very small space between the wardrobe and wall. I opened it up and inside are two official looking $5,000 certificates of deposit from ACLEDA Bank, on thick, fancy embossed paper.

They have the name and account number of the person who made the deposit. It's a Khmer name and when I searched it on Facebook it's one woman comes up who appears to be a real estate agent in Phnom Penh.

I don't know if she or someone with that name lived here before; I thought only foreigners lived in the building.

I asked the landlord and he knows nothing about her or the CDs.

What should I do with the certificates? They were issued in 2017 and bear interest and matured this year. I'd like to at least try contacting her on Facebook, but I'm wary of the language barrier and that if I ask her "Are these your CDs" she might say "yes" even if she's not the right person.

Could the true owner have just gotten replacements at ACLEDA or is it essential that the owner gets the original certificates back?

What should I do?

Thanks for your advice.

Burn them

Bedazzler! wrote: ↑Tue Aug 13, 2019 7:13 pm Please bear with me I have never posted on a website like this for advice before.

Could the true owner have just gotten replacements at ACLEDA or is it essential that the owner gets the original certificates back?

Issued in 2017? Not 1917?

A wild stab in the dark here given my severe lack of knowledge in this area BUT they were issued in 2017! At a reputable bank... come on... you really think that bit of paper is the only record of the deposit?

On a serious note though, if you could find the lady it would be a nice gesture to return them even though she has probably sorted it all out by now.

Well, if they are deposit slips they are worth nothing.

If they are some kind of bearer bond, then she may need them, but if they have her name and account number, more than likely they are not.

Burn them.

Damn I was hoping there would be a reward but if they are worthless I will just toss them in the garbage for the scavengers to find.

You have to show an ID to redeem those certificates with the correct signature or thumbprint. If you look on the back of the certificate, there are conditions written in Khmer and English. I believe one of the conditions states that if those original certificates are lost, they will charge for a second copy. Those certificates are useless to anyone except the person whose name is on them or a co owner of the same account.

Yes I just read the terms on the back. They are in Khmer and English. It says a fee will be charged to re-issue lost or stolen certificate

Bedazzler! wrote:Yes I just read the terms on the back. They are in Khmer and English. It says a fee will be charged to re-issue lost or stolen certificate

Made payable to a bank in Lagos?

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Hand them in to an Acleda branch.

Jerry Atrick wrote:Well, if they are deposit slips they are worth nothing.

If they are some kind of bearer bond, then she may need them, but if they have her name and account number, more than likely they are not.

Burn them.

Exactly. They give those out for fixed date deposits, but in no way do you need them to get the funds. They're just deposited back into your main account.