Counterfeit bills

[Kurt]

How many of you have ever found yourself in possession of a counterfeit bill? I have twice. Both times from an ATM. Both times I tried and succeeded in passing it off hoping it would make it to a bank and get destroyed.

I succeeded both times.

I suspect that if I had been caught I would have lost $20 each time but would have been able to successfully plead ignorance....when really I was like "Shit, why do I have to lose $20 because of some corrupt ATM vendors?"

And I was too poor so losing that money would have been a hit.

I had a counterfeit bill in Ecuador too. I took that $20 hit because I did not want to go to jail there. Burned it.

[MJK]

What tipped you off? No RFID strip?

[Kurt]

What tipped you off? No RFID strip?

It was not even a tip off. The one in Ecuador was the best but it was the feel of the paper that made me look at it. It was like that slightly heavier office paper you use for more formal letters but then like it was intentionally worn down a bit. Andrew Jackson's facial features barely showed up and then I noticed there was no strip.

The Ecuador one was just the wrong color green. But it felt right but it was a series 2001 or something and I had another bill of the same series in my wallet and compared the two and once had a strip and the other did not. I think I got that one as change when I broke a $100 at a hotel so I just took the hit.

[snaark]

I've never seen (at least as far as I know) a counterfeit banknote, but mainly because I've lived most of my life in countries that have plastic ones. Never understood why a country would use paper.

[Devlin]

The first thing a cop does when they come into contact with a person who has a counterfeit bill is to see if they have any more of them on them. Over time most people get one, it is another thing to have ten more of them in your pocket, wallet or bra.

Then you also look at the situation. Such as if they have a counterfeit $50.00 and they are in a bodega trying to buy a $1.00 can of soda.

I worked a case where a guy pulled into a parking lot to pay to park, nightclub, bar part of town. The parking lot attendant is handed the $20.00, he gives the guy $15.00 back, the car pulls through the lot and out into the street and takes off. That guy never parked the car, he clearly just passed a bill he knew was fake. He went to several other parking lots in the area and did the same thing.

A good number of them get passed off in nightclubs, bars and strip clubs, You mix in bad lighting, lots of sound and confusion and crowds, it is a easy place to do it.


Just my real two cents.

[Kurt]

The first thing a cop does when they come into contact with a person who has a counterfeit bill is to see if they have any more of them on them. Over time most people get one, it is another thing to have ten more of them in your pocket, wallet or bra.

Then you also look at the situation. Such as if they have a counterfeit $50.00 and they are in a bodega trying to buy a $1.00 can of soda.

I worked a case where a guy pulled into a parking lot to pay to park, nightclub, bar part of town. The parking lot attendant is handed the $20.00, he gives the guy $15.00 back, the car pulls through the lot and out into the street and takes off. That guy never parked the car, he clearly just passed a bill he knew was fake. He went to several other parking lots in the area and did the same thing.

A good number of them get passed off in nightclubs, bars and strip clubs, You mix in bad lighting, lots of sound and confusion and crowds, it is a easy place to do it.


Just my real two cents.

And valuable.

I knew a guy would would work the door at those trendy NYC clubs. Not The Limelight but like the Limelight. It was $40 to get in there in 1998 money. One day he looked at the take and it was about 30% fake $20 bills. No one had gotten change for them, no fake $20s were passed at the bar. Someone just went on a money printing spree to get into over-priced clubs.

[Devlin]

The first thing a cop does when they come into contact with a person who has a counterfeit bill is to see if they have any more of them on them. Over time most people get one, it is another thing to have ten more of them in your pocket, wallet or bra.

Then you also look at the situation. Such as if they have a counterfeit $50.00 and they are in a bodega trying to buy a $1.00 can of soda.

I worked a case where a guy pulled into a parking lot to pay to park, nightclub, bar part of town. The parking lot attendant is handed the $20.00, he gives the guy $15.00 back, the car pulls through the lot and out into the street and takes off. That guy never parked the car, he clearly just passed a bill he knew was fake. He went to several other parking lots in the area and did the same thing.

A good number of them get passed off in nightclubs, bars and strip clubs, You mix in bad lighting, lots of sound and confusion and crowds, it is a easy place to do it.


Just my real two cents.

And valuable.

I knew a guy would would work the door at those trendy NYC clubs. Not The Limelight but like the Limelight. It was $40 to get in there in 1998 money. One day he looked at the take and it was about 30% fake $20 bills. No one had gotten change for them, no fake $20s were passed at the bar. Someone just went on a money printing spree to get into over-priced clubs.

Mars or the Tunnel club I guess. That may be a few years too late.

[Kurt]

It was the Tunnel.

I used to get in there for free but I never wanted to go. Women I knew wanted to get in so I would take them, so that kind of worked out.

I got in there for free because of my friend. And then I used to get in there for free so often that others assumed that free +1 was the way it was for me for some reason.

Hated the bathrooms. I got shy bladder in unisex toilets.

[Lost Boy]

My partner arrested someone in south central once for driving around in a stolen car. I was booking her property at the jail and noticed she had about twenty or so $20 bills with the same serial number. They were pretty passable fakes other than that glaring detail, and of course no water mark. Under Miranda, she said she got them from her uncle and told me his name etc. I passed the tip along to Secret Service for follow up, but they couldn't be bothered with it.