Passing the Counterfeit Buck
June 4, 2010 by Kathy McManus
The buck stops here. But where should it stop if it’s counterfeit?
LA resident David Lipin says that when he cashed a $1,000 US Postal Service money order, the postal worker gave him eight $100 bills (along with $200 in twenties). Lipin proceeded to a gas station, filled his tank, and attempted to pay with one of the hundreds.
“The clerk took a close look at it and said it was fake,” Lipin told Los Angeles Times business columnist David Lazarus. The police were called, and all eight bills were declared counterfeit. “The police said the $100 bills were actually $5 bills that had been bleached and altered,” Lipin said. “They showed me how you could hold them up to the light and see Abraham Lincoln’s face.”
What Lipin saw next was red. The police “took a report but said they couldn’t do anything,” then referred him to the Sheriff’s Department, which referred him to the Secret Service, who told the Times, “Unfortunately, counterfeit money is like a hot potato…Whoever ends up with it last is the victim.” But Lipin got the “bogus cash” from the post office, the Times countered, so shouldn’t Uncle Sam “bear some responsibility?” Not really, said the Secret Service. “Postal workers don’t have special equipment or training to spot counterfeit bills. Unless they’re in on it, this isn’t their responsibility.”
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10 Comments
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June 18, 2010 by Stephen R
Unfortunately, the police are right. Counterfeiting is not a "victimless" crime -- the person hurt by it is whomever is holding the bills when the fakery is discovered. Basically counterfeiters are stealing that money from whatever random person gets stuck with them. The responsibility is on the criminal, not anyone who unknowingly passed along the fakes. About the only exception I can think of is the banks -- they have no excuse for passing bad bills -- it's part of their job to know the difference.
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October 4, 2010 by Lois Jenkins
Friday, October 1, 2010, I received a "counterfeit $100 bill" from my bank in Vineland, NJ that was drawn off of my unemployment debit card. Today, October 4, 2010, I re-deposited the cash into my checking account in Phila when they told me it was counterfeit. I filed a report, but what is the responsibity of the bank from where it was received?
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June 18, 2010 by U.N. Owen
Funny that I see this article - less than a week after I saw a documentary on the subject of counterfeiting.
Sounds cruel, but there IS logic why you don't get 'repaid' by the bank/gas station...whatever for your counterfeits. It'd basically encourage people who make the fakes to keep on making them. THEN it'd be a 'victimless' crime, and if no one gets hurt, then, is it a crime?
Yes, it sucks to be the one stuck with it when it's identified. There are no 100% ways to safeguard yourself (even those yellow pens you see people use to check money - THOSE can EASILY be tricked - not saying how), but the easiest way is to use debit cards (I'm no fan of the credit industry, but they do have one up on cash).
Another (annoying) thing is to use the lowest denominations possible; $1's, $5's - even $10's. THose are LESS counterfeited (but that doesn't mean they're NEVER).
It's a crime as old as money itself. Even in Roman times, people would 'trim' the edges off of their (REAL silver/gold) coins. That's one reason modern coins have riges on the edges.
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June 24, 2010 by Al Rhoe
on June 9, 2010, I went to my bank , First Citizen Bank, Winterville, N.C. and cashed a check , to have funds for my vacation. Upon arriving back to PGV, I paid for parking with a $100.00 bill that I received from my bank. The teller at the parking lot said," this is no good, maybe conterfeit " !!!! I cound not believe what I heard. The following day I took the $ 100.00 bill to my bank, they verified that it was a conterfeit, but it was nothing they could do but gave me a telephone number to call a 1-866-000-0000. They said that is a Branch problem, they do not have money at their location.
WHAT SHOULD I DOWN NEXT, IF THE BANKS ARE NOT CHECKING THEIR MONEY, SHOULD I BE OUT OF $100.00 ??????
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October 29, 2010 by Carl Sprout
It seems this $100 printed on a bleached $5 is a popular thing among counterfeitors. I was at a casino and used one of their kiosks to cash out my winnings. Turned out the $100 bill I got was a counterfeit. I didn't know this until I went to the cashier with it when the same machine that spit it out wouldn't break it. Now all I've got to show for my winnings is a receipt with a case number.
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July 15, 2010 by sherry
Yes, the government should take half the responsiblity since that is where it was recieved. Not jus the government but any business should bear some of the burden. I was not the mans fault either.
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July 18, 2010 by david white
i bought a counterfeit money detector for $19.95 from nationalamericandistributors and now i don't worry...
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August 6, 2010 by stevn clark
Its messed up that the police takes the inocent people for the crimes other people do the government should be on it and open their eyes and relize who does it
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September 7, 2010 by ginny guia
I work in the retail industry and am always very careful when I get large bills even $20's. Once a guy tried to pay me with a fake $100 it looked a little off and when I looked at the watermark it has Lincoln on it. Sometimes people get all offended when I check the large bills, it is just part of business. Sadly I even got scammed just today, It was a $100 I checked the grain, which I thought I felt, then I looked at the multi colored 100 print looked good, you know with the gold tinge, then I looked for the 100 thread it was there, I was feeling really good, so I quickly glanced at the watermark, big mistake I should have stared at it longer, on closer inspection it was a cheap almost cartoon like imitation, it looked nothing like the real portrait quality watermark. My radar should have gone on when the scammer bouught a small quanity of merchandise with it.
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May 12, 2011 by Douglas the Rolfe
I received one of these washed five counterfeits, took it for deposit, the Bank seized it.
they gave me a receipt for a counterfeit $100.
The man who gave it to me says he has no responsibility to pay me the $100 he now owes me !
Civilly I can sue him, though if he was a holder in good faith it is no crime, right?
He owes me $100, Right ?
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