Police warn of counterfeit money circulating in Quincy

QUINCY (WGEM) - Quincy police said the counterfeit money circulating here in the Tri-States is fooling people because it looks real at a glance and it passes the pen test.

Police said employees at a Quincy gas station fell for it, and now they’re trying to find who’s behind this fake money before someone else becomes a victim.

Second String Music Co-Owner Rodney Hart said he’s glad counterfeit money hasn’t ever shown up in his cash register.

“That’s not to say it might not happen though,” Hart said.

And it could, as Hart said his business doesn’t really double check for it.

“We do, especially at this time of year, deal with things like $100 bills, $50 bills, even $20 bills, and we do sometimes just take it for granted what they are, and just stick them in the drawer don’t even look twice,” Hart said.

But now he said he will look twice after Quincy Police Department Patrol Officer Kevin Pavon said someone used a counterfeit $100 bill at a Casey’s General Store Monday night.

Pavon said the employee marked the $100 bill with a pen, saw that it passed the test, went through with the transaction, and didn’t look any closer.

“If it comes up as though it is not counterfeit and they don’t notice right away because of a situation like this, then they’re likely to go forward with a transaction and the person is likely to get away with using the counterfeit bill,” Pavon said.

Pavon said that is exactly what happened in this case.

“They used it for a transaction that was far less than $100, and then they collected change from the transaction and then they used that change as well to make other purchases.”

But, he said had the employee looked closer, they would’ve noticed the fake wording on the bill.

“Here it says, ‘For Motion Picture Purposes,’ and then on the back it also says, ‘Motion Picture Purposes,’ so that is a big clue that it is not a real $100 ,bill and it also does not have any holographic ink,” Pavon said.

Two big clues Hart said he’ll double check for as police continue to search for the culprit.

“I’m really glad that QPD is taking this seriously, and I think that we as small business owners need to take it seriously, too,” Hart said.

Pavon said this is the first time their pen protocol didn’t verify the money was fake, and they’re still trying to figure out why.

Pavon said while they haven’t made any arrests yet, they are investigating possible suspects. He said possessing fake money is not a crime, but using it to make purchases is. If police arrest you for that, you can face a forgery charge, which is a felony.

When trying to determine if money is fake, he said look at the texture, watermarks and text on the bill.

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