During the holidays, best to know your bills from baloney

Figuring he'd make some quick cash by selling his cell phone, a Virginia Beach man found an interested buyer on Craigslist and picked up his payment.

Later, he realized he'd been tricked. The $170 he got for the phone was fake.

While the incident late last month wasn't an everyday crime, police weren't surprised to hear that counterfeit money is being passed in Hampton Roads.

The crime - which is a felony - tends to increase during the holidays, police said.

Some of the phony money reported to police is passed at stores, according to Gerald M. Scheuer, resident agent in charge of the Norfolk U.S. Secret Service office. Hardware stores with big-ticket items can be targets for counterfeiters who want valuable merchandise that they can sell for real money, he said.

In other cases, fake $20 and $50 bills are cashed in at convenience or drug stores by buying a small item, such as a pack of gum.

Because it's possible for other customers to receive a fake bill as change during a transaction at a store, Scheuer said, it's important to take a moment to make sure the bills are real.

Newer computers and printers can make high-quality copies of cash, but counterfeiters don't have access to the linen-cotton blend paper that the U.S. Treasury uses to print currency, Scheuer said. If a bill feels too thick or waxy, it could be a fake.

The microprinting - small type or lines around the edges of a bill or on the face on a bill - also is difficult to fake. On counterfeit money, those lines might be blurry or missing.

Watermarks could be blurry or look hand-drawn, Scheuer said. Holograms and security strips could be missing along with the color-shifting ink that changes from green to black or copper to green.

People who think they have received a fake bill should report it to a store clerk or manager right away, Scheuer said.

Still, the odds are with you, Scheuer added. "Less than one-hundredth of 1 percent of all currency in circulation is counterfeit."

Police in most Hampton Roads cities have different methods of keeping track of counterfeiting reports, mostly lumping them in with other types of forgery. Most cities reported fewer than 100 instances of counterfeit cash being passed in a year.

Much of the fake money investigated by the Secret Service was confiscated in drug busts, Scheuer said.

Customers who get cash from banks or ATMs don't need to be concerned, he added. Financial institutions have special methods of checking currency and screening out anything that is suspicious before it hits the street.

Banks can check money that a customer thinks is suspicious, Scheuer said.

For more information about security features in U.S. currency, go to www.secretservice.gov or www.moneyfactory.gov.

Cindy Clayton, (757) 446-2377, cindy.clayton@pilotonline.com