It’s one of the oldest tricks in the book, and people are getting downright tired of it.

Merchants in downtown Vancouver’s Yaletown neighbourhood say they’re seeing a sharp increase in counterfeit bills — and some businesses are taking matters into their own hands.

At the Salsa & Agave Mexican Grill, business is booming, which makes it harder for staff to spend time inspecting for counterfeit money.

“These people know what they are doing,” owner Juan Contreras told CTV News. “Right in the middle of the rush when we have many people waiting in the lines waiting for change is when we have to catch those bills.”

Ursala Mayne, owner of The Raging Bean, may not look it, but she’s a one-woman fraud fighter.

When a customer tried to pay for a coffee with an obviously fake $20-bill, Mayne refused.

“We ended up giving it back to him,” she said. “As he walked out, it kind of bothered me that I gave it back.”

So Mayne followed him to a neighbouring store — where he was trying to use the fake bill a second time.

“As he was presenting the bill, I grabbed it from him and I said, “This isn’t real!” Mayne said. “And I kept it.”

Her employees are now being more diligent inspecting for frauds. Mayne says an easy way to test a bill is to rub it on a piece of blank paper. A real bill will leave ink — a fake one will not.

ctv

In this economy you cannot afford to be left with fake money. One of our goals with this blog is to help raise counterfeit money awareness and keep the fight going against the counterfeiters who are trying to scam people in businesses or otherwise. If you take a look at the posts throughout this blog, you can see a huge trend that is going on in the United States with fake money.

Counterfeit bills have been appearing anywhere from lemonade stands and school cafeteria’s to the North Korean general and huge factories/counterfeit money operations. Just last year the Secret Service took $103 million in counterfeit money out of circulation in the United States and the general public is usually the ones left with this money, unaware that they have it.

It is highly recommended that you get something to keep yourself safe from the counterfeit money that is circulating around the world. There are many great options to choose from such as the ultra violet light, counterfeit pen, or a top quality counterfeit detecting machine.

Don’t get stuck with fake bills! Help spread counterfeit money awareness and keep your money safe.