Police investigate $4,000 in counterfeit bills passed at Knoebels

I'm surprised that many were passed off. I'd love to see one of the bills. Having worked in several different cash businesses, I have seen my share of fake money. I have never seen any that were convincing. And I know none got past me because the bank would have certainly let me know. That is, unless of course they were so convincing as to have fooled the bank too. :)

Great story for the podcast....that is, if there is one this week!?! :/

Are we sure these weren't being printed AT the park in a section under renovation?

I occasionally see a counterfeit bill where I work. Sometimes they get through the bank, or so I hear. Company policy is to use one of those pens on anything 10$ and over. Catches them right away.

nicoledc109 said:
Great post! It's very nice. Thank you so much for your post.

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Wow. That's some good spam right there.

If you're going to fake a signature, at least make it look like the others.

I just figured she felt compelled to created an account at 5am just to show her appreciation for Jason's very nice post. It is a nice post, don't you think?

When I was a supervisor at Sheetz, one nite I was counting the money, and we too were required to use the pens on anything over a $10.

Some college kids were printing fake $5 bills, using neon green ink, on terribly thin paper. I could spot it a mile away, and as soon as I picked up the stack of fives, I saw the corner of it and picked it out. It was so obviously a fake, and I couldn't believe anyone had fallen for it. Neon Green stands out on pure white paper...

I don't care how busy it was or hectic, that should never have gotten as far as me.

tigellinus said:

Great story for the podcast....that is, if there is one this week!?! :/

Aw, we miss you, too. :)

Vater said:
It is a nice post, don't you think?

I thought so. ;)

(As far as I know) The cash markers didn't exist 15 years ago. If they did, I never saw one. There are tons of ways to tell if a bill is counterfeit without ever picking up one of the markers. We learned them in high school and I still remember many of them to this day. You can forget to use a marker. But, once I learned these things I never forgot them. Some of the obvious one's are the colored fibers in the bill, the texture to the clothes on the presidents, the magnetic strip in the bill that you can see when you hold it to the light. There is a distinct feel to the bill as well. Being that money is not made of paper, it is very difficult to replicate. There are other ways to tell a bill is counterfeit that require a magnifying glass. There are things on the bill that appear to be lines are actually text.

The bills today are even harder to fake than the ones from 15 to 20 years ago. The bills (I think the 5 dollar and up) all have a watermark in the front bottom right corner that looks like the image of the face on that bill, color is now incorporated into the bill. On the back to the left and the right of the image there are a few dozen yellow 5's 10's 20's etc.

I guess it's just become so second nature to me, that I wonder how anyone is fooled.

Jason Hammond said:
I guess it's just become so second nature to me, that I wonder how anyone is fooled.

And especially with $100s. At almost any retail, but especially an amusement park, that should raise red flags. Especially when someone is using them to purchase a relatively small cost item.

What are these 'bills' you guys speak of? Is that like the cash people used back when I was a kid?

LG, bills are the things you keep in your wallet to use just in case the independent vendors and portable pretzel stands don't take credit. :)

Or if a storm knocks out their system ;).

Or if the POS system they've implemented doesn't actually stand for 'Point of Sale'.

If you're east of France, and your purchase isn't at the 20/30/50 euro/franc/koruna/whatever minimum.

Or if you're convinced the feds are tracking your every move.

Or, of course, if you are actually doing something illegal. :)

...pens...

As indicated in the story, the pens don't sniff out bills that were bleached with a different printing on them. As best I can tell, said pens are supposed to react poorly only if it's not actual money paper.

So if someone passes you money that's obviously fake, what do you do at that point?

john peck said:
So if someone passes you money that's obviously fake, what do you do at that point?

You call the police since a crime has been committed .The police then ask the person trying to pass it if they know who they got it from.If the person runs off or acts suspicious/nervous you then know they were aware it is fake.
The secret service tracks everyone stopped trying to pass fake money.
You may get away with it one time (being caught)but if you continue
you will get caught.

Just a side note Color copiers will throw a message if money is tried to be copied if you continue to try the code locks in and can only be reset by calling the manufacturer (who calls/messages the secret service )

Kevin38