Roseburg, Ore (KMTR) Police say a recent rash of counterfeit cash has hit Douglas County. The bills started popping up a couple weeks back, most frequently at local bars, banks, and convenience stores. Police say the fakes are almost always in the form of $10 or $20 bills.
Umpqua Bank in Green noticed four separate businesses brought in counterfeit bills last week. Sunset Tavern in Roseburg spotted a fake when they used a special counterfeit detecting pen on two suspicious $20 bills handed to them by a man wanted to exchange them for change. When they confronted him, he took off running.
Employees say often times a crook will try to take advantage of a busy bar; hoping staff won’t have time to check the bill.
“It’s very frustrating,” says Bartender D.J. Howard, “when you’re busy, you don’t really have time (to check a bill), but you have to take the time.”
Police say there are a number of ways you can spot a forged bill. With the exception of the $1 bill, every note has a water mark that will only show up if held up to a light.
Bills $10 and up have an ink mark that changes colors when tilted. Police say even the texture of the paper can be a dead giveaway.
“Genuine U.S. currency is actually printed on more of a cloth then a paper. There’s cloth fibers mixed in with the paper”, says Sgt. Aaron Dunbar with Roseburg Police, “the counterfeit bills we’re seeing are simply being printed on photocopy paper, so you can really feel the difference between the two of them.”
If you think you have a fake, you can take the bill to your bank or police to make sure. For more information on security features of U.S. currency click
here.
Police say the fake bills seem to be made by one person, simply printing them off of a home computer.
