Bloomington, Ind. - Counterfeit money is being passed off as the real thing at Indiana University.

University police say two suspects paid for food in the student union with fake 50 dollar bills.

Police say the man and the woman are about college age, but they don’t think they are I.U. students.

Sugar and Spice employee Delaiah Dupree has to mark every 20 and 50 dollar bill with a special marker that’s designed to detect counterfeit cash.

“I set it down and mark it. If it shows up a nasty brown color, then it’s a fake,” said Dupree.

I.U. police say a man and woman tried to buy coffee at Sugar & Spice with a fake 50 dollar bill.

The store didn’t have enough cash in the register to give the suspects change.

That’s when they moved on to Burger King and Starbucks, which both accepted the fake fifties.

“They were trying to recoup as much cash in change to launder this money back into society,” said I.U. Police Captain Jerry Minger.

Police believe the suspects ended up with at least 175 dollars in real money.

Right now, police only know of four counterfeit bills, but they believe there could be more.

“There is a concern that there may be more of these fraudulent bills in circulation or these people may continue to try this until they’re caught,” said Minger.

The I.U. Police Department has notified the Secret Service about the counterfeit money.

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