In the News: Have you received counterfeit cash?

[Pesso]

Hey Newsies,

Today we’re talking fake cash, with an article from NBC reporting on a rise in counterfeit bills across LA and elsewhere. I’d love to hear your experiences on receiving fake money in your business.

NBC LA: Riverside business owners warned of counterfeit cash criminals

The article explains that small businesses are increasingly becoming victims of criminals using convincing counterfeit money, which is drastically hurting and costing the owners. The fake bills they use are increasingly harder to tell from real ones, and can be bought or made. It’s not just isolated to LA. A quick search turns up news articles from Cleveland, Miami, Oklahoma, and more, about rises in fake money being used, all within the last week. The article goes on to recommend businesses protect themselves by checking bills more thoroughly.

In my shop, we had our fair share of fake bills coming in. We got anything from counterfeit $10 bills, up to $100 bills. Some of them we caught before taking, and others were so good that only the bank was able to spot them. We lost a decent amount of money over the years, and it was always really disappointing and aggravating. 

We tried a few different ways to prevent counterfeit bills, but it was always a battle between convenience and safety. We used a UV reader to visually check the hidden strips, a motorized bill scanner that would automatically analyze them, and settled on just the traditional pen. During one spell of a big increase in counterfeits, we would check every single bill. 

In the end, we just made the decision to no longer accept $50s or $100s, to limit our risk. If a customer came with one of those bills we would explain that we received a lot of fake bills, and that we accepted credit cards if they didn’t have anything else. Some customers got really mad and would storm off, but for us, it was worth the loss to prevent a big loss in money or products.

What’s your perspective:

• When have you gotten counterfeit bills? 

• What do you do to prevent getting stuck with fake money?

Can’t wait to hear your thoughts!
Pesso

This article is for informational purposes and does not constitute legal advice. For guidance or advice specific to your business, you should consult with a qualified legal professional.

[TCSlaguna]

We have received counterfeit cash a couple times. Nothing too big. 

We use the pens to check larger bills. 

Thankfully 90% of our transactions are credit card, so we deal very little with cash these days. 

I've seen a lot of businesses move to cashless. It's looking like that's the way most businesses will go to reduce counterfeits and theft. 

[Pesso]

Thanks for sharing, @TCSlaguna !

How did you realize it was counterfeit? What did you do with the bills & customer?

Oh wow, that's a huge percentage of credit card sales -- was that encouraged/by design in any way, or just how your customers naturally behave to pay?

I've definitely seen and heard of some places (more so in cities) going cash free. Definitely some mixed feelings there-

[TCSlaguna]

Employee didn’t catch it. I noticed the counterfeit at the end of the day, tossed it out. 

Our customers always ask, “Do you take Apple Pay?” I’m glad tap to pay is so common now, dipping is such a pain. 

[Pesso]

Ah dang. Did you use it as a learning opportunity, or contact authorities, or anything, or just toss it?

Yes! I love tap to pay too! So much faster and fewer issues.

[cupzcoffeeaz]

The first couple of times, it was a learning opportunity, and that was when I set the policy of the manager or assistant manager only taking large bills to ensure they would check the bills correctly. 

I did contact the police, but it wasn't much of use as we couldn't stop the person from leaving the store. The thing that I learned is that usually, these people had already hit other stores in the area and they matched the description.  There have been a couple of times in which I think the people handing the bill to us were completely unaware of fake bill.

[Candlestore]

So far (knocking on wood) we have not seen any counterfeit bills.  We have a scanner that checks larger bills.  Most of our sales are also CC and not cash.  We do not do anything to encourage or discourage cash or CC sales.  Just most people do use CC or the phone apps like Apple and Google Pay.  In Pa I found an article that it is illegal not to take CASH, but have heard of a few places near me that do just that.  I actually called Walmart for their local store not wanting to take CASH, I reviewed the store and posted News articles on how retail stores in PA have to accept CASH.  The very next day, m wife went to said Walmart again with ONLY cash to see what would happen armed with the news articles on her phone, lol.  It is my belief that if you want to use cash use it, if you like the ease of a Debit or CC use it, Just do no tell me the consumer I can only pay this or that way.  I also refuse to use the Self checkouts.  I help enough customers in my store and check them out and make a lot less than these store trying to get out of having employees, and I will not be doing their jobs.  I will either wait or if they say we have no one to check you out, I give that person my cart and say well you might want to put this back then I will go to XYZ instead.  Now again, IF I Chose to use Self Checkout that is my Right to choose but do not force it on people.  

[Pesso]

Thanks for sharing, @Candlestore -- that's great that you haven't dealt with any fake bills.

Good points all around -- choice is definitely a good decision! 

[rtfulk]

When we were working the Minnesota State Fair this year, a group of people were passing counterfeit 20’s and 100’s. What they had done was bleach 1.00 bills and printed over them. People with the bill markers to them because when they mark them they passed.  We never got any, but at the State Fair of Texas we did get a fake 20.00, but our bill checker caught it. It was printed on thick paper and had no magnetic strip.

We use a bill checker that reads the magnetic strip and displays the denomination and also uses a black light to check the watermark, it also has a usb port that allows you to update the software when a bill is change by the government.

[Pesso]

Thanks for sharing, @rtfulk !

Oh wow, that's so interesting that folks specifically went there to try and use counterfeit bills. 

That's a really good point that some of the traditional bill checking methods won't work on bleached bills, since they tend to test if the paper is authentic, not that the bill is what it's saying it is. 

Ah that's great that you have a reader that checks all of that, even for bleached bills, and can be updated. And even better that it caught one for you at the fair!

Can you share which bill checker it is that you use?

Which bills do you check? 

[rtfulk]

@Pesso I got them from amazon and they are not that expensive. We mainly check 20's, 50's and 100's. it's also battery powered so you can use it if you don't have a power source. One thing if you get one press the CLR/DIR button twice, that will take the bill in and spit it back out to you. If you don't it will just shoot it through the back, It's also a bill counter.

counterfeit bill checker 

[Pesso]

Thanks for sending it along and sharing more info, @rtfulk ! That's cool that it also does counting-

[takeiteasy]

No counterfeit notes for us, been a lucky run so far for us. plus another location where society primarily prefer to pay non cash.
Feels like cashless world is not very far away. 

[Pesso]

Thanks for sharing, @takeiteasy ! That's great that you haven't had any issues. How common is it in Australia? 

How do you feel about a cashless world?

[cupzcoffeeaz]

We’ve gotten a couple of them in the past. They usually try to put them thru my coffee shop when we are slammed betting on the employees not checking the bill.

since this happen, we only allow the manager or assistant manager t take 50 or 100 to ensure that the bills are checked with the market. Since then we’ve stopped a couple of attempts. 

But thankfully most of our sales a credit card too. So it isn’t much an issue 

[Pesso]

Thanks for sharing, @cupzcoffeeaz !

Dang, that's wild that they time it like that, but I'm glad you have those safety checks in place and managed to catch a few!

What do you do when you find one? 

[Doran]

I've never received any but I don't usually keep much change around in the store so I can't really accept cash unless it is exact change.  Most of my facial clients pay by card/subscription model and walk-ins just grabbing skincare I encourage to pay by card because I don't have change.  

[Pesso]

That works too, @Doran -- Glad that's been helping you to avoid the fakes!

[Donnie-M]

@Pesso I have the best story about this one...an employee accepted the "movie money" and then tried to go get change at the bank.  We really gave her a hard time for a while on this one:

These were just bought off Amazon and in a quick pinch, sometimes they get by.

[Pesso]

Ooof, @Donnie-M , that's a rough one. The weathering really sold me on it, and I admit it took me too long to see the "Copy Money" on there. 

What did you end up doing with it? 

[Donnie-M]

@Pesso I took photos but I let the bank keep it to turn it in to whomever.  The thing with these small 20$ type thefts is it really isn't worth the time to pursue it too far up a food chain.  So we retrained and I did get some of the counterfeit pens to have on hand.  Otherwise we already had good policy in place just ensuring my people follow it.