Dual Controls for Couriers Collecting Large Cash Sums

Sending a single employee to collect cash from a bank is a control failure that creates an unwitnessed handover moment with no accountability until the person returns — or does not. In June 2026, M&M Insurance Brokers in Maraval entrusted courier Aaron Lowe with four cheques totalling $109,000, instructing him to exchange them at a bank branch in Ellerslie Plaza and return the funds immediately. After bank officials handed over the cash, all contact with Lowe ceased; he did not return to the premises and has not been seen since. The business had no mechanism to confirm receipt of funds at the bank, no way to intercept the cash before it left the branch with a single person, and no control over what happened between the bank exit and the return journey. Long-term employment or a clean track record does not eliminate this risk — the size of the sum alone may be sufficient to change a person’s calculation. When one person controls the full chain of a large cash transaction, the business has no recovery point until it is too late.

Steps to follow:

• Never send a single person to collect cash from a bank on behalf of the business — always assign two staff members to travel together for any cash collection exceeding a threshold your business sets in advance.
• Before the courier leaves for the bank, call the bank branch directly and ask them to confirm in real time when the funds are released; this creates a checkpoint independent of the courier’s own report.
• Require the courier to send a timestamped photograph of the received funds and the bank receipt from inside the branch before leaving the building — this documents that the full amount was collected and establishes the moment the handover occurred.
• For collections above a significant threshold, use a registered cash-in-transit service rather than a company employee; the cost of the service is a fraction of the cost of a total loss.
• Establish a strict return window: if the courier is not back within a realistic travel time plus a 15-minute buffer, begin contact attempts immediately — do not wait for the person to surface on their own terms.
• When a courier becomes unreachable after collecting funds, report the matter to police immediately rather than giving them additional time to respond; early reporting allows police to act before the suspect leaves the area or crosses a border.