Counterfeit $20

[UGetPaid]

Selling tickets for my daughter's dance recital on Saturday - I found a fake $20 in the till. It was actually movie prop money - printed on the same paper as normal currency and looks/feels exactly like a regular $20 at quick glance when people are coming in fast and furious to buy tickets and programs...  It wasn't until things slowed down just before the show started that I noticed the fake bill while trying to organize the cash box after the rush.


How low do you have to go to stiff a small dance studio like that?  Tickets were $15, so this jerk got paid $5 to watch the show. I sure hope that karma bites him/her someday soon right on the butt!

[renee10]

Wow, it amazes me how low people will go. I could never do something like that.

[NRAJOE]

That's messed up................

[countrygirl12]

Selling tickets for my daughter's dance recital on Saturday - I found a fake $20 in the till. It was actually movie prop money - printed on the same paper as normal currency and looks/feels exactly like a regular $20 at quick glance when people are coming in fast and furious to buy tickets and programs...  It wasn't until things slowed down just before the show started that I noticed the fake bill while trying to organize the cash box after the rush.


How low do you have to go to stiff a small dance studio like that?  Tickets were $15, so this jerk got paid $5 to watch the show. I sure hope that karma bites him/her someday soon right on the butt!

Could the person who gave it to you maybe not have known it was fake? YOU didn't notice it? Maybe they received this as change some where and didn't realize it was not real. We have had some issues with fake $20 bills at our Walmart. They do not mark them and half the time don't look at them.  SO I use my debit card so I don't have to get change back.

[Nancy5]

Some people will try anything.  If they knew how rotten can they be.  If like Countrygirl said, hopefully it was an accident and they didn’t know.

[UGetPaid]

Could the person who gave it to you maybe not have known it was fake? YOU didn't notice it?

I considered that, but I seriously doubt it.  It is easy to tell that it is fake when you have a chance to look at it for longer than half a second. If it was just among a few other bills in a person's wallet, they would know right away that it was fake. As it happened, I was taking money from several dozen people in rapid fashion - just long enough to see if it was a five, ten, or twenty handed to me - mentally calculate their change and get the change and ticket(s) and move on to the next person in line. There was also a 16 year old volunteer at the table with me, also taking money and handing out tickets and programs.


I am not going to throw her under the bus, but we were both working from the same money box and I cannot say for sure if I am the one who took the phony bill or if she did.


Either way, at a quick glance, it looked and felt real.  The paper, image, and four cornered numbers all look legitimate at the split second it is handed to you as you make all of the other mental calculations... I took a photo of it after I found it was fake (posted below).  If it wasn't a rapid quick fire process, there is no way anybody would look at this bill and think it was real - which is why I believe the person who paid with it knew exactly what they were doing.  The only way to pass it off was to target an event like this where the people taking the money are bombarded with customers and trying to move people along as quickly as possible.


No excuses - it could (and probably should) have been caught. But regardless of that, I believe the person passing it knew exactly what they were doing.

[countrygirl12]

Could the person who gave it to you maybe not have known it was fake? YOU didn't notice it?

I considered that, but I seriously doubt it.  It is easy to tell that it is fake when you have a chance to look at it for longer than half a second. If it was just among a few other bills in a person's wallet, they would know right away that it was fake. As it happened, I was taking money from several dozen people in rapid fashion - just long enough to see if it was a five, ten, or twenty handed to me - mentally calculate their change and get the change and ticket(s) and move on to the next person in line. There was also a 16 year old volunteer at the table with me, also taking money and handing out tickets and programs.


I am not going to throw her under the bus, but we were both working from the same money box and I cannot say for sure if I am the one who took the phony bill or if she did.


Either way, at a quick glance, it looked and felt real.  The paper, image, and four cornered numbers all look legitimate at the split second it is handed to you as you make all of the other mental calculations... I took a photo of it after I found it was fake (posted below).  If it wasn't a rapid quick fire process, there is no way anybody would look at this bill and think it was real - which is why I believe the person who paid with it knew exactly what they were doing.  The only way to pass it off was to target an event like this where the people taking the money are bombarded with customers and trying to move people along as quickly as possible.


No excuses - it could (and probably should) have been caught. But regardless of that, I believe the person passing it knew exactly what they were doing.

Wow. Yeah the person who gave it to you knew what they were doing. Most likely. Although when I get change I don't usually look at it. I just put it in my billfold.  If the person done it on purpose then yeah that is pretty low. No matter who they passed it off on.

[tnshpalmer85]

I think it is wrong to use counterfeit money and I would be disappointed if I received one. There could also be a chance that the person who used it did not know it was fake. I rarely check my twenties to see if they are real when I receive change. I just assume they are I guess. I should check more often.

[aflyingmonkey]

That bill looks amazing... I can see how anyone that isn't used to dealing with cash on a regular basis wouldn't question it; especially if they are young.  I rarely get cash, I pay with debit cards that are taken just about anywhere. 

That is a shame someone used it to steal from a small business, or any business... too bad there isn't security footage handy to figure out the culprit.

[NRAJOE]

Its missing "Federal Reserve Note" above Jacksons head...other than that, very convincing...
Other than the motion picture disclaimer on it....

[vickysue]

Crooks will do anything to  pass off  counterfeit money. We use to have a food wagon and had to check every thing and  only  had one get by us. and yes we were super  busy and had a helper. But that isn't bad compared to some of the other vendors that got hit that day. We used the special marker on everything. Hung around our necks so there was no fumbling to find it. also a sign in the window that  they would be marked.  Yes it could have  mistaken by someone who passed it. But I doubt it.

[snuggleycutejc]

Printers are good got to be looking for it. Someone passed it. 

[hkckk5]

That's terrible! Karma will get him and he will lose out twice that much or more.

[nmbrown863]

I got a counterfeit $100 a few months ago at work.

[pkrahmer]

 It totally amazes me what some people will do. I volunteer at a local thrift shop that raises money for scholarships for graduating seniors.  People steal from us all the time. I had one customer come back and ask for a refund  for an item she stole. Fortunately all sales are final and we of course could not find the sale in the computer.