Any counterfeit bill stories?

[SongsOfDragons]

Just out of interest, what happens when someone gives you a fake note that they genuinely didn't create, and was just given it by an ATM or somesuch?

My only experience with this kind of thing gave me an addition to my coin collection - a 10p coin I gave a barman once was returned with a puzzled look, and then I saw the triskelion - it was an Isle of Man 10p!! I gladly took it back and gave him a proper one Also I've heard that some dumb folk are getting a little miffed with Britain's changing coin designs, not realising that the gorgeous crosshatch pattern of part of the Royal Standard is, yes, actual currency now...

EDIT: I'm sorry, I've just got to pimp it. If you haven't seen Britain's new coin designs yet, go see. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:N...inage_2008.jpg They are orgasmically beautiful.

[pssorens]

It does come down I think to all trusting your instincts when it comes to the customer with the funny money. My ap manager tells me to trust my gut.

I also lucked out once when a customer refused a coin out of our old change machine at the pretzel place. took one look at it and gave him a nickel out of my own pocket. it was a 1906 victory nickel.

[Eric the Grey]

Never ran into any fakes, but once when I was working the cashier at the "Home of the Whopper", the cashier next to me was refusing to accept a $2 bill in payment because "there's no such thing as a $2 bill". He didn't believe me or the other customers in the store. I went and got a manager who finally convinced the kid that $2 bills were not fake. And the customer got his meal for free for being inconvenienced by my co-irker.

I remember reading an article somewhere about a guy who tried to purchase something at Best Buy with a stack of $2 bills (like $60 worth of stuff) and not only did the cashier refuse to accept them, she called the store manager, who called the police and had store security handcuff him to a pillar for passing counterfeit bills. The police arrived and made everyone at the store feel stupid.

I've never personally seen a counterfeit bill, but a roommate from a long time ago told me of two people we both knew at the time who had set up their own $20 printing press, and then proceed to take pictures of the entire operation, including themselves holding the fake bills.... A few fries shy of a happy meal, these two.

He said he had copies of all the pictures, and some fo the bills "in a safe place" in case anything happened that they were responsible for. There was no love loss between them...


Eric the Grey

[penguingeekgod]

I saw a manager handle getting a fake $50. We just hold it to the light for the security strip. He asked me to look. If we didn't check for the strip, it almost would have passed, but it felt... off. He just handed the bill back and informed the guy it was fake. Guy just swore and drove off.

On a side note, the US Treasury had a vault where they keep all counterfeits circulated. Nova was showing the best and worst. The absolute worst was a $20 bill with GW and "ONE DOLLAR" under the portrait and 20 in the corners that actually made it into circulation.

[BarbieGirl]

Never ran into any fakes, but once when I was working the cashier at the "Home of the Whopper", the cashier next to me was refusing to accept a $2 bill in payment because "there's no such thing as a $2 bill". He didn't believe me or the other customers in the store. I went and got a manager who finally convinced the kid that $2 bills were not fake. And the customer got his meal for free for being inconvenienced by my co-irker.

I think if this happened in washinton then my sister witnessed the incident! I swear she saw the exact same thing!!

[StarsAreFixed]

I probably have handled some, particularly at Christmas. Some people pay with €100, €200 and €500 notes. Banks do not give them out, or ATM's, only bureau de changes abroad do. In fact the €500 note is illegal in some countries. Of course, before I started work I'd never seen any of these notes before due to their not being in normal circulation, we don't have lights or pens to check so just have to give it a good shot of feeling the security thing in the middle..difficult when you don't encounter these notes often. (How dodgy is someone how pays for a €4 top with a €500 note? At 10 on a Sunday, just after opening time when I barely have €100 in coins in the till..and then complains because guess what, I have to borrow from the safe to give you your insane €496 change. Bleughh)

[Naaman]

The pens will only detect the cheap ass fakes, it's an Iodine pen that reacts with the starch in the paper, it's only good for the "ran it through the home printer jobbies", UV lights are better as most notes in circulation now have UV security features.

[code-monkey]

My story isnt about a counterfeit note but a terrible genuine one. I was doing the banking the other day with a colleague and counting out the notes that had been lifted from the tills when i got half-way through the £10s and stopped. I just went "Who the hell accepted this? Wait a second, this is.... this is actuly genuine." I swear it was the worst genuine note I have ever seen. IT looked really tatty.

When a note is tatty it is usually an indicator that a note is genuine as a fake is usually discovered by someone before they get to that state. Also the fact that wood-pulp based paper would degrade before the that stage. Real money is printed on cotton based paper, which is why you can detect fakes with note detector pens. The pens have iodine in them which reacts with the starch in the wood fiber and changes color. Thats also the reason they aren't always 100% accurate but I wont go there now. (My friends say I know way too much about fraud/counterfeiting lol)

The other thing about the note is the fact that it wasn't even from the current note design. If i recall correctly the previous notes were replaced about 6 years ago so this one must have been kicking around in a drawer for some time. I also looked like it have been photocopied, badly. However it had the foil and watermark so it got banked anyway. One thing I learnt was the previous notes didn't have micro-printing, or not that I could see anyway.

I just cant understand how notes get into such a bad state. I always keep my notes neatly in my wallet, I hate crumpled notes. What I find annoying is when I hand people back their change (especially brand new crisp notes) is when they just crumple up their notes and shove them in their pocket. In my mind I'm thinking "Nooooooo, Damm you!!!!" but maybe I'm just weird.

I manage to get my own back though whenever someone hands me a fistful of crumpled notes I always straighten out and check each note (I check all notes anyway but thats not the point) thinking "Ha, how much time have you saved yourself now", but as I said before, maybe I'm just strange like that.

[Estil]

Cop: do you understand these rights as I have read them to you?

Guy: Yeah...but it won't do you any good. I copied those bills, but you can't sue me, I'm unemployed.

Hee hee, tell that to Secret Service.

[Estil]

I remember reading an article somewhere about a guy who tried to purchase something at Best Buy with a stack of $2 bills (like $60 worth of stuff) and not only did the cashier refuse to accept them, she called the store manager, who called the police and had store security handcuff him to a pillar for passing counterfeit bills. The police arrived and made everyone at the store feel stupid.

From what I understand, didn't a Secret Service agent have to come down to clear him?

[Jack7957]

Didn't see them, but the computer shop I used to work for would contract out with the print shop down the street for all our printing needs (invoices, ads, etc). Whenever we went to pick up an order, the owner was in a rush to finish, even though he had told us it would be ready by then. Found out later, via the newspaper, that he had been printing fake $20s, and had garbage bags of them stuffed in his drop ceiling. He got caught while passing them. A year or so later, he comes in my grocery store, and comes through my lane, hands me a check to pay for his stuff, and the whole time I'm looking at it, I'm wondering if it's fake also.

[Deceptitech]

Not mine, but I saw one of those "brilliant" people who decided to use that "I just printed it up" people.

He was all smiles, delivering that line like every smartass(myself included, as I was about to use it myself). She sighed, and used the pen, and low and behold it was a fake bill. He paled when she smiled at him, and pulled the light to blinking. He sputtered for a moment, and said that he was "only joking". She said that was well and good, but it is a fake, and proceedures must be followed.

When the manager came to talk to him, he was screaming about "I was only kidding". He took the cashier's statement, and mine, and had security escort him to the office. They did have to take him in to be questioned.

Odds are, he was only joking, and thought he would use that smartass comment to get a laugh. the joke was on him. From that point on, I decided to never use that line again. That was a while ago.

[Mark Healey]

I don't even know what we're supposed to do when some one hands us a fake. Last weekend a woman tried to pay with a fake U$100. I just handed it back to her, telling her it was a fake.

Are we suppoded to keep it and call the cops, or what?

[Eric the Grey]

From what I understand, didn't a Secret Service agent have to come down to clear him?

Yea, I think you're right. Here's the story.


Eric the Grey

[mischugenah]

Yea, I think you're right. Here's the story.


Eric the Grey

That's just unreal. While I don't believe in suing someone unless absolutely necessary, I would demand an apology from the Best Buy, and maybe that cashier's head ("I don't have to take these if I don't want to"? Since when does a cashier get to choose what currency s/he wants to take? Not talking about lack of change, of course.)