Fort Wayne Police say a large-scale rash of counterfeit bills is circulating through the city that could have losses in excess of $100,000. The bills are deceiving the untrained eye and fake-detecting markers alike.
Fort Wayne Police Sgt. Cleophus Jones, who heads the department's financial crimes division, said at a Wednesday news conference that police are investigating three to four new cases of counterfeit bills a day at city businesses.
And those cases, which typically are at quick-service gas stations, are separate from any counterfeit bills that turn up at chain superstores such as Wal-Mart or Meijer, Jones said, because protocol at those businesses requires stores to send the fakes directly to the U.S. Secret Service.
It's a blooming epidemic, and Jones said the public needs to be aware and on the lookout for the bills.
“We've been getting so many of them that we thought maybe the public should be made aware that we are getting new bills,” said Jones. “Just pay a little more attention to the bills that you are receiving, because if you don't take a good look at it, it's easy to pass bad bills.”
Passing a bad bill can mean a Class D felony counterfeiting charge, Jones said, which, according to Indiana Code, holds a sentence of up to three years for the convicted person.
Jones said the counterfeiting process - which he said is the result of a ravaged economy as much as greed by criminals - is a relatively easy one that can be done in the comfort of home with the right chemicals and technology, and step-by-step instructions are available on the Internet.
Counterfeiters will generally start with a standard-issue $5 bill; then, with the help of a bleach-and-water solution, they will erase the face of Abraham Lincoln and the $5 figures that flank him on each side. Then the counterfeiter will run the bill through a printer, adding the image of a $100 bill, complete with the mug of Benjamin Franklin.
The outcome: a spot-on $100 bill that passes counterfeit-marker tests, because it actually is a bill.
The red flag comes when the bill is put under ultraviolet light, Jones said.
On a legitimate bill, the left side will show the insignia of the United States, as well as the dollar figure of the bill, as a light watermark. On the right side will be a picture of whoever should be on the bill (Lincoln on a $5, Franklin on a $100, etc.).
If the bill does not show those characteristics when viewed under an ultraviolet light, or maybe even under normal light, raise the red flag and phone the authorities, Jones said.
Jones said some bills are so real-looking that they give the Secret Service fits, so the layperson is at a decided disadvantage. Still, he says, taking an extra minute to run the bill under a light could be beneficial.
“If you cannot detect this money yourself, you're going to get hit hard with a lot of it, because there's a lot of it in circulation,” said Jones.
Jones said his unit has seen a counterfeiting boom in recent months, and it's reached the point now where this area is a hot spot in the nation.
“It's at a much larger scale now than in other places,” he said.
Jones speculates the counterfeiting may be rooted in an outside ring that is pouring the fake bills into the city, with added trouble from local, more small-scale counterfeiters.
The way to beat them, Jones suggests, is keeping one step ahead of the counterfeiting technology, as well as raising awareness among consumers and businesses.
“Be a little more thorough,” said Jones. “Spend more time checking the bill.”
