Three teenagers from Beverly were caught with approximately $1,350 in fake money according to a police report after employees from Stop & Shop and Shaw’s reported being given bogus $50 bills. The employees realized the bills were fake after using a counterfeit pen.

http://www.salemnews.com/punews/local_story_054070514.html

BEVERLY — Three Beverly teenagers are being charged in a scheme to pass counterfeit $50 bills at two local supermarkets last week.

John Paul Kehoe, 19, of 15 Pine Road, Beverly, was arrested yesterday morning, and two 16-year-olds will be summoned to appear in court on charges of uttering and possession of counterfeit notes.

Police began investigating after employees at Shaw’s and Stop & Shop reported they had been given bogus $50 bills on Feb. 13. After looking at security camera footage, Detective Jeff Liacos recognized some of the teenagers.

“I knew three of the four people through my experience of three years as a school resource officer,” Liacos said.

Police learned that the two 16-year-olds had made small purchases at Shaw’s with the phony $50 bills and received $47.71 and $46.21 in change. After they left, store employees marked them with a special pen and determined they were fake.

The pen contains iodine-based ink that shows up yellow or clear on real money because it’s printed on cotton fiber that doesn’t react to iodine. In these two cases, the ink showed up brown, which meant the money was either very old or fake, Liacos said.

After questioning the boys, police identified Kehoe as the person who provided the bills and got a warrant. Investigators learned Kehoe and three other teenagers were riding around in Kehoe’s gold Lexus, when Kehoe pulled out a wad of $50 bills, approximately $1,350, according to a police report. He told the younger teens that his friend had printed them and that he had been asked to carry them around to “age” them.

Liacos said the counterfeit money was fairly well forged.

“They were worn, and they looked passable,” he said. “But to the trained eye, they looked like junk.”

Kehoe allegedly doled out some of the fake money to the other teens, who passed them at the supermarkets. Police are still investigating who gave Kehoe the money.

Similar counterfeit bills have turned up in the course of another ongoing investigation, according to a police report.

Beverly police also called in the United States Secret Service, the agency that investigates counterfeit currency. It’s not out of the ordinary to request their assistance, Liacos said.

Ken Jenkins, assistant special agent in charge, said counterfeit cases are not very common, but when they do occur “It’s mostly younger, high school kids, or young adults.

“They’ll go into a local establishment, and when they find they can do it, they’ll do it again,” he said. The Secret Service is investigating whether the counterfeit currency was used in the past.

Kehoe pleaded not guilty at his arraignment in Salem District Court and was released on $300 cash bail. He’s due back in court on April 2.

Without the counterfeit pen the $1,350 of counterfeit bills that the teens had on them could still be circulating and there is no way to know who the next victim of counterfeit bills will be. So make sure you have a counterfeit detector if you’re in a business because it’s worth it to make 100% profit and for peace of mind.

Where are you heading on your next vacation? Wherever it is you are probably going to stick out like a sore thumb. But who cares, you are having fun. Don’t let their stares get you rattled, it is your vacation and you worked hard to pay for it - so what if they snicker. Oh, just make sure you don’t get taken advantage of. Tourists and foreigners are prime targets for counterfeiters, they aren’t very familiar with the local currency and are set to relax mode so their suspicious sensors are turned way down. Check out this story from the Gazette about how counterfeiters are going strong in the UK.

POLICE in Cleveleys today warned traders to be on the lookout for fake cash.
A man ran from a shop in the town after trying to pay for goods with a counterfeit £20.

Now PC Quentin Allen, Cleveleys’ community beat manager, is concerned more dodgy notes may be in circulation.

PC Allen said: “We have only had one incident so far, but I’m urging shop staff to be on the lookout.

“These are counterfeits of the new £20 note.

“It hasn’t been in circulation for very long so people are only just getting used to them.

“That makes spotting what is a very good fake even harder.”

PC Allen was alerted to the fake currency on Friday last week when a man tried to spend one of the notes in a bakery store in the town centre.

He said: “The man wanted to pay for something of a very low value with a £20 note.

Suspicious

“Fortunately, the staff member had a special pen which can identify a fake.

“When she tested the note she was worried and said she would have to call the police.

“At that point the man turned and ran out of the door.

“It’s obvious he knew what he was doing.”

PC Allen is also worried about a woman spotted in the town acting suspiciously with large quantities of cash.

He said: “There is a woman in the town who has been pulling £20 notes from a large wad in her boots.

“That is certainly unusual and we are concerned she may also be involved.”

PC Allen said traders in the town should take precautions to prevent fake currency falling into their hands.

He said: “All stores should have the special pens which can identify a fake.

“They cost virtually nothing but could end up saving someone a fortune.”

Police are now hunting the man who ran from the store.

PC Allen said: “We do want to speak to him, to see how he is involved.

“The man was in his early 20s, with short, black hair.

“He was scruffy with no teeth and wore a black three quarter length anorak.”

So rather then spend your precious vacation days nervous or worried invest a mere eleven dollars and twenty nine cents (way less than you will tip the bellman) in a shiny new Universal Counterfeit Detector Pen and enjoy your well deserved retreat.

If you really really want to spend a lot more time to find out if that bill is fake, frustrate your customers and look really silly you could always forgo the handy marker and go with the magnet/paperweight test.

Detect Fake Money - The best video clips are right here

Conde Nast Portfolio has a great visual recap of how the 5 dollar bill looked throughout history. Personally I’m torn between the 1861 and 1896 versions.

The five dollar bill ($5 bill), first issued in 1861, has featured portraits of not just Abraham Lincoln but also Ulysses S. Grant, Alexander Hamilton, Andrew Jackson, and even Civil War general Philip Sheridan. There have been many other changes, minor and wholesale, made over the years to preserve confidence in the security of U.S. currency.

Just in case you don’t heed our advice and get stuck with a phony bill, all is not lost you can always use it to open the beer you drink to drown away the misery.

We don’t recommend you mark every single one dollar bill that gets handed to you, even though cost wise it makes sense rather it’s your time we value , but people are crazy enough and willing to risk getting caught and going to jail over a buck.

http://www.wkyt.com/news/headlines/15565422.html

It’s not the first time we’ve heard about counterfeit money, but several people say it’s the first time they’ve heard of a fake one dollar bill. WYMT’s Marie Luby spoke to the clerk who took what she calls a counterfeit bill and wonders why one dollar could be worth so much trouble.

It just doesn’t look real, it looks like a play dollar bill actually,” Hope Branham said.

That’s what employees at the Natural Bridge Shell station in Slade are saying about the dollar bill Hope Branham found when she was counting her drawer Tuesday morning.

“On the ends here you can tell where it’s white, where it’s been copied onto a regular paper. and here’s where we marked it with the pen, and it’s black,” Branham said.

Branham says this ink shows up a yellowish-brown on real bills, and black on the fakes.

Banking officials say U-S Secret Service agents are the only ones who can officially say whether money is counterfeit.

Community Trust Bank Marketing President Janice King says in her 30 years in the business, a fake dollar bill would be a first.

“Sometimes with the larger bills you’ll see several at one time and then you won’t see them for a while, but in the event that we do get a counterfeit bill at the bank we have to keep it and fill out a report and send it to the secret service,” King said.

Now employees and customers here are wondering, why would anyone bother to fake a single dollar?

“I wouldn’t want to go to jail for something like that it’d be more than that if I was gonna go to jail,” Branham said.

Branham says no one will go to jail this time, because they didn’t want to call police over a dollar.

They say they’d rather someone try to steal a small cup of coffee, than a tank of gas.

Hope Branham says she’s come across several one dollar bills in the past few months that she thinks are fake and employees are now checking every single bill that’s handed to them no matter how small.

None the less if something looks funny or suspicious take a moment to mark the bill. Most thieves start out petty, first they’ll try something insignificant-something that you wouldn’t bother calling the cops about if they get caught but if they get a way they will move up the ladder. If you have the counterfeit pen next to your cash register they will know you are serious about counterfeiters and probaly just move on to the next target.

Over the past few years there have been countless reports of counterfeit bills being used in mainstream and local shops. The rise of counterfeit bills doesn’t seem to be stopping anytime soon but with a counterfeit detector you don’t have to worry because it is the best defense from these bills. The latest report comes from York County where several $100 bills where used at a local convenience store.

WAVY

York-Poquoson Sheriff’s investigators need the public’s help finding a man believed to be passing counterfeit money. Earlier this month, a man was captured on surveillance tape passing several fake $100 bills at a convenience store. “Several of the bills had the same serial number on them,” investigators said in a news release.

In some counterfeit cases, it’s an honest mistake, but Sgt. Dennis Ivey told WAVY.com, the suspect in this case was likely a professional. “When those are the only bills you pass and are not mixed in with real cash, that shows he wanted to get rid of those in exchange for tangible items,” he said.

The suspect bought a Western Union money order and cash card, Ivey said. He said no other business had been hit in connection to this case, but warned clerks and mangers to be prepared and patient in order to spot bogus bills. That’s why Christine Crawford, a clerk at a tobacco shop, has a counterfeit detection pen next to her register. “It’s the biggest weapon for me,” she told WAVY.com, “I haven’t gotten any yet, but if I do, I check everything,” she added.

It’s the attitude Ivey urges all clerks and business owners to have. “It’s just taking the time to really examine them and 9 times out of 10 you can tell if they’re counterfeit.”

The counterfeit bills circulating are a time bomb to anyone who deals with cash and the only defense is a counterfeit pen. No one knows where or when counterfeit bills will show up next, as Christine Crawford, the tobacco shop clerk, said “It’s the biggest weapon for me” all it takes is one swipe from the counterfeit detector pen to defend yourself from losing your profits over fake money that is circulating.