Counterfeit $10.00 bill given to me!!!

[PineappleMama]

That system makes me SO mad.

Businesses can refuse to take fake bills, check 20s, 50s, 100s... but your average person has no protection against them... and none on the 1s, 5s, and in your case 10s that are fake at all because banks and businesses don't check those, just pass them right on along.

And it's the one who has it in hand when a business figures it out that gets the shaft. You turn that in you do NOT get another 10 in exchange, you just lose 10. Not the business that gave it to you, not the crook who made it, you the honest citizen.

And THAT is precisely why when folks realize they got a fake, and the business they got it from says "not us" then their only choice is to pawn it off on someone else... or take the hit. For many folks they just can't afford to burn money so they continue the cycle by passing it on. I'm SO thankful me and DH haven't been stung by that, but I've known folks who were. BIL turned one in, got the shaft... now some years later he got another and just passed it on down the line. Figure eventually a bank will get it and THEY can deal with it.

I understand the rules that mean if a pawn shop is caught with stolen goods the goods are taken... because they chose to receive them knowing they might be stolen (having a local business's name painted on the side should be a clue GRR) but in this case innocent bystanders who had NO idea are being punished... NOT cool at all.

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

About 25% of US money in circulation is fake. Maybe 10% of that is detectable. That's why money keeps changing. We are trying an failing to make money that cant be copied.

If a store confiscates money it thinks is fake an later is proven wrong its bad news to them so most will never confiscate it. They just refuse it.

 

[PotterWatch]

Quote:
Wondering where you got that number from. Last time I heard a verified figure (in 2007), fake bills made up less than 1% of the money in circulation.

 

[thechickenchick]

We had one of those pens at the last store I worked at. We also had strict instructions to call the manager then the police as soon as we detected a fake.

I am so sorry this happened to you

It feels terrible and $10 IS a big deal, especially this time of year.

 

[halo]

Quote:
Did you just make that up? I think Id believe this first:

According to this study put out this year by Judson and Porter, the face value of counterfeit currency relative to the total amount in circulation is about 0.01%:

We conclude that the total value of counterfeits in circulation at any moment is on the order of $60 to $80 million, or less than $1 for every $10,000 outstanding, and is highly unlikely to exceed $220 million, or less than $3 for every $10,000 in circulation. Further, we conclude that the incidence of counterfeits is roughly the same inside and outside the United States ...

Actual numbers from five years ago suggest about the same:

Out of the approximately $759 billion in U.S. dollars held in U.S. currency in the form of banknotes (paper currency) in circulation outside the U.S. Treasury and the Federal Reserve at the end of 2005, the Secret Service reported that about $61 million in counterfeit currency was passed on the public worldwide. Of the counterfeit currency passed, the majority, $56.2 million, was passed in the United States, with the remainder passed abroad.

If you want to read the whole study, its here:

http://www.chicagofed.org/digital_assets/publications/policy_discussion_papers/2010/PDP2010-2.pdf

 

[NellaBean]

Somebody once handed me a fake $5. It was seriously a bit smaller than a normal bill and a different color green. I could tell just looking at it it was fake. I rolled my eyes at the person and asked them if they had a real $5 bill instead. They pretended to not know it was fake, but I tend to doubt that. It was very obviously fake.

 

[destiny_56085]

I've worked at a major casino for just about 15 years now and run into alot of them. 99% of the time its from people that don't even realize they have them. The other 1% are dumb enough to try and pass them off at a place that has to mark each bill. If they try to load a bill into a slot machine, the sensors pick up on the magnetic strip in the bill and will spit it back out if its questionable. These people then try to pass them off at the cashier or one of the tables. Those pens are not 100% accurate either. Any bills made before 1959 were made on a different material and will react to the pen. Something as simple as running a bill through the wash or spraying it with perfume or hairspray can be sometimes enough to set the pens off. I've had more than a few bills where you mark them on one side and they will turn black 100 times. Flip the bill over and it will turn yellow on that side.

As for how we deal with them.... anything $10 and above is marked. If questionable, it is taken to security and the head cashier for verification. 9 times out of ten the bill is real and nothing to worry about. On those truly fake ones, they are confiscated and turned over to the feds. We had a guy on one of my tables stupid enough to try and pass off more than a few in 1 place. He played upstairs in high stakes and tried to pass one there. Later he was on my table downstairs and tried another one. Security then took him to their office and his wallet was searched. More bills were found and he was hauled off to jail. 1 bill is a coincidence....more than a few is jailtime.

Something else going around last year was were they were 'washing' out $1,5, and even 20 bills and reprinting them into $100 bills. Same paper material and thus the pen doesn't react. The texture of the paper is the exact same so you don't realize something is up. We really have to watch for mis-prints, the magnetic strip, and all the other features too now.

Sorry you had to go through this. Too many dishonest people out there ruining it for everyone....

 

[cassie]

If I were you I would first determine if the bill was in fact counterfeit. Like take it to the bank or something. I wouldn't take a Wal Mart clerk's word for anything. The money has changed so much in the last few years it ALL looks counterfeit to me.

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

Quote:
Did you just make that up?

That was just from memory of a news special that ran a few years ago. That may have been the percentages for money circulating over seas. The also said that most of the good stuff was being printed by other governments.

 

[sgtmom52]

Here are some things to check on the bill ~ How to Detect Counterfeit US Money