Posted on 06/07/2007 11:55:55 PM PDT by bd476
OCEAN CITY, Md.- Police are warning businesses in Ocean City to be on the lookout for counterfeit money.
Ocean City police say they are investigating several cases where fake currency has been passed at local businesses in the last few days.
Police say the first case occurred on May 19 in which three counterfeit $50 bills were discovered by a local merchant. On June 2 and again on Wednesday, six more cases of counterfeit $20 bills and one $100 bill were discovered by merchants and banks, according to police.
The bills are described as good quality, with slight fading to the green areas. Police say the bills have been passed at businesses from the Boardwalk to the Delaware line.
The serial number on the counterfeit 20s is BG69339629F.
The serial number on the counterfeit 50s is EG94812215A.
(Excerpt) Read more at wboc.com ...
Resort Police Investigate Counterfeit Bills
Ocean City, Md. - Thursday June 07, 2007 10:02 am
Ocean City police say they've handled several cases involving counterfeit money in the last few weeks.
The phony bills were passed at local businesses.
The first case was reported on May 19th when three counterfeit $50 bills were discovered by a local merchant. On June 2nd and 6th, there were six more reports of counterfeit $20 bills and one $100 bill.
The bills are described as good quality, with slight fading to the green areas.
Resort Police Investigate Counterfeit Bills
I hope none of the merchants is getting hurt badly over this. We need to get modern currency. Heck I can surf with Australian bills.
WKYT Kentucky
Counterfeit Money Has Surfaced Again
June 7, 2007
Reporter: Heather Haley
"Funny Money" has been found again in Leslie County and state police say the fake bills have been surfacing across the region.
Just last week we reported several counterfeit bills had been discovered in Leslie County.
State police say fake money is growing in numbers, but there are ways you can keep yourself from being scammed.
Angie Salyers is a cashier at Hyden Grocery in Leslie County and she says every once in a while she sees a bill that just doesn't look right.
“I know there is a face you can look for if you hold it up to the light and there's a watermark sign that goes down the side of it,” Salyers said.
But Salyers isn't the only one having to keep an eye out for counterfeit money, state police say its becoming more common across all of eastern Kentucky.
On Wednesday, Kentucky State Police got a call that someone tried to pass a fake 20 at Hyden Grocery, as well as a fake 10 at the Shell gas station next door.
State Police Detective Joe Griffith says the funny money isn't too funny if you're caught.
“They could be charged with forgery, they could be charged with possession which is a Class D Felony and also they could be charged with theft,” Detective Griffith said.
Detective Griffith says people with counterfeit money tend to go businesses when they are the busiest, in hopes of not getting caught.
State police say if you believe you have come across counterfeit money to contact your local police department immediately with any information you can provide so they can try to stop the "funny money" in eastern Kentucky.
Police say they did arrest two people in Leslie County a couple of weeks ago for trying to use counterfeit money, but they're not sure if that incident is connected to the most recent cases.
Counterfeit Money Has Surfaced Again
Thanks for posting this!
Informative thread.
THANK YOU bd476.
If only we would see notices like this about counterfeit identification from potential employees. Then the merchants and employers could be prepared.
KGET Bakersfield, California
Tips for spotting counterfeit money
Last Update: Jun 4, 2007 5:54 PM
Posted By: brynn galindo
Posted 6/4/07
BAKERSFIELD - Could you spot a counterfeit bill if you got one?
A Bakersfield man couldn’t and now he’s out $100—something he said is tough for a senior citizen on a tight budget.
“I'm living on a fixed income,” said Jay Gresham. “It hurts. I've got insurance coming up, and now I ain't got the money to pay them. They don't care what my excuse is."
Gresham said he cashed his social security check inside the Fastrip on Mt. Vernon Avenue and Niles Street.
The following day, he went to fill up his car with gas at the same store, and that’s when the clerk told him she had to confiscate the $100 he gave her.
The store owner said while he doesn’t run the check cashing part of the store, he does know there is a procedure in place to make sure they aren’t handing out phony money.
“Whenever they count or dispense money, they have a counter that detects for any fake bills,” said Fastrip owner Roger Hawatmeh.
Gresham got a receipt for his confiscated bill which has been turned over to police.
The Treasury Department will inspect the bill and make a final judgment.
Police said to always look at the money you’re given at the store, and if you think it looks different or odd, you should ask questions at the store before you leave.
They also advise you to check the color and texture, or feel, of the bill, and look for the color-shifting ink.
On a real bill, you’ll see the ink changes colors when you shift it in different directions; this change is not evident in a fake bill.
You can always ask the clerk to check it as well.
If you have a story idea, let us know at Your Story on KGET.com.
Tips for spotting counterfeit money
Northwest Florida Daily News
Students caught passing counterfeit bills at school
Andrew Gant
Thursday June 7th, 2007
Two Crestview High School students were charged in connection with circulating counterfeit money at school, according to an Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office report.
Anthony D. Carlson, 17, used a scanner to print approximately six fake five dollar bills and “play pranks” on his friends at school, the report states. He was charged on June 4 with manufacturing counterfeit currency.
A 15-year-old student was charged that same day for helping to circulate the money.
Other students, unaware of the scheme, gave the 15-year-old change for the counterfeit money and unknowingly spent phony currency in the school cafeteria.
Two of the fake bills even-tually turned up in two separate cafeteria cash registers, according to the report.
A witness said Carlson told him he was making “fake five dollar bills” to use as pranks at school. The witness added that he told Carlson he was “stupid” because he was “going to get caught.”
Students caught passing counterfeit bills at school
Arkansas: Trumann Democrat
Counterfeit money found in Trumann
News: Wednesday, June 06, 2007 Trumann, AR
The Trumann Police Department reports there have been at least four incidents of a Trumann business receiving a counterfeit $100 bill recently.
The bills received have been $5 bills washed with a bleach substance to remove the ink and then reprinted as a $100. The watermark and security strip is not removed so the identification marks are still in place. The TPD recommends all businesses and individuals check the security features on each and every $100 bill before accepting it as payment.
Businesses should remember the following:
*Security strips should match the bills denomination. The security strip is a thin piece of plastic that runs through the bill and should have the amount of the denomination on it.
*The watermark should match the face of the person on the bill. For example, if the person on the bill is Ben Franklin and the watermark is of Abraham Lincoln then this is a counterfeit bill.
If a business or an individual receives a counterfeit bill, they should contact the Trumann Police Department immediately at 483-5121.
Counterfeit money found in Trumann
Spokane Washington
Spokesman ReviewBiker charged with using counterfeit money
Bill Morlin
Staff writer
June 6, 2007A Spokane member of the Gypsy Jokers motorcycle club was ordered held without bond Tuesday after being arrested on federal charges stemming from the alleged use of a counterfeit $100 bill at Northern Quest Casino.
Ronald Jaymax Klump poses a danger to the community and therefore doesn't meet conditions of release prior to trial on four federal felony charges, U.S. Magistrate Judge Cynthia Imbrogno ruled.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Harrington argued that because of his criminal record going back 30 years, Klump doesn't qualify for release on bond.
"There's no question Mr. Klump is violent and a danger," Harrington said.
The 49-year-old suspect was arrested Thursday at his home at 720 S. Dishman Road in Spokane Valley by agents of the Washington State Gambling Commission, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives and the Washington State Patrol.
Gambling Commission agents identified Klump as a potential suspect after security cameras and employees at Northern Quest identified him as the man who passed a counterfeit $100 bill at the casino May 13.
According to documents filed in U.S. District Court, Klump first attempted to use the bill to buy casino playing tickets from an employee who suspected it was counterfeit. The employee used a counterfeit detecting pen, which left a brown mark on the bill, the documents say.
"Klump then grabbed the counterfeit $100 bill from this same employee and stated, 'It went through the laundry,' " the documents say.
Approximately 90 minutes later, Klump successfully passed the same bill when he bought a gaming ticket from another employee.
After Gambling Commission agents were notified by tribal gambling officials, U.S. Secret Service agents were consulted and they confirmed the bill was counterfeit, matching the description of at least two other counterfeit $100 bills previously passed in the Spokane area, the documents say.
When state and federal agents searched Klump's home and arrested him on the counterfeiting charge, they also found ammunition, a body armor vest and a half-ounce of methamphetamine.
The illegal drug was found in a "cap with lettering depicting 'Gypsy Joker' affiliation," the court documents said.
In a four-count complaint, Klump was charged with passing a counterfeit Federal Reserve note, possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, and being a felon in possession of ammunition and body armor.
Klump was in prison from 1993 to 2003 after pleading guilty to involvement in two murder conspiracies.
You're welcome, Heatseeker.
Also I just added some more news articles about counterfeit money turning up in Kentucky, California, Florida, Arkansas and Washington State.
Thank you, Cindy! Just fyi, I also just now added more articles about counterfeit money showing up in Kentucky, California, Florida, Arkansas and Washington State.
bookmark
This has been going on for quite a while here in eastern TN.
I'm not surprised. Counterfeit money hurts our economy and hurts Senior Citizens, and other folks on fixed incomes the hardest.
If you have an article from a local paper, please post it here. People need to hear about this.
Good counterfeits — the kind that don’t rely on finding a clerk dumb enough to fall for something off a color copier — require a lot of infrastructure. You’ve got to have a skilled engraver. intaglio presses that weigh tons, and skilled press operators — all of that requires a large secure space and a lot of start-up money.
There are only so many organizations that have the time, the safe place and the long view needed for that kind of operation. The Mafia certainly could do it, but I haven’t seen many cases of the Mob getting involved in counterfeiting, because they make better, easier money in other rackets that are more difficult to trace.
Narcotics cartels and international terrorist groups have been known to engage in large scale counterfeiting of US currency. They can fake last-generation bills that are easier to fake, and still in wide circulation overseas. In addition to funding their operations, counterfeiting has the side benefit of undermining the credibility of the Dollar overseas.
At least one of the stories in this thread could implicate an outlaw biker gang, but my bet guess would be that they’re operating as middlemen. Some of the larger biker gangs could have the capital to launch a counterfeiting operation, but they tend not to be that sophisticated.
Passing the bills in a beach towns in the weeks surrounding Memorial Day shows at least some cleverness and planning. Shops and sidewalk vendors on the Boardwalks are jammed at that time, and the clerks are unlikely to give a bill more than a passing glance, lest they hold up the line.
Pass a $50 to buy some corn dogs, a couple of Cokes and a cotton candy, and you’ve got legitimate cash given as change. The faux Franklin goes into the register drawer, which goes into the safe, which goes into sacks and is picked up by an armored car. It isn’t spotted until it gets to the bank, and by then you’re long gone.
How is it linked to fixed incomes specifically? It if undermines the value of the dollar, that hurts everyone.
I see how it's more likely to hurt senior citizens, who are more comfortable cashing checks and paying with cash than we younger folks who pay bills online, get our money from ATMs and buy things with credit and debit cards. But I don't see the linkage to fixed incomes.
The current US currency -- $5 and up, at least -- is relatively modern. Between the magnetic color-shifting ink, the micro-printing and the embedded film strip, it's darned hard to fake.
The problem is that the older notes are still in circulation. I still get them in change and occasionally from ATMs. They're more common overseas, where the US Dollar is the de facto medium of exchange, and they change hands many times without making their way to a bank.
There's a lot of money to be made if someone produces a bill-scanner that can reliably spot a fake, new or old, and make it inexpensive enough that retailers can put one at every register and fast enough that it doesn't make the line back up around the block.
Once the newer bills are widely distributed, in a few more years, it might make sense to remove the old ones from circulation -- not to make them worthless, but to recommend that retailers no longer accept them and require that they be swapped for new notes at an authorized bank that can take a closer look.
DelMarVa PING.........
The Secret Service would have been on this case already except they are busy protecting the self-important Sen. Obama.
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