Nasty, Wicked Counterfeiter Arrested!!! Problem: he paid with a real bill.

I just caught this, thought it was interesting and deserved sharing with the community. Now then, this interests me on two levels, one is that the man paid with a real bill that was identified as counterfeit. I can actually understand that happening. Apparently the bill was old, it was off-centered (hey, it's a printing process, it's not necessarily going to come up aces 100% of the time), and it failed their little ink test. So, I don't necessarily blame the store for rejecting the bill or even the police for concluding the bill was fake.

What does get me is that the man was arrested, charged, and taken to jail. I think that places an insane burden on the individual to scrutinize his/her own money. I mean, each day we exchange these bills countless times. Am I or you supposed to measure the placement of the image or use a special pen to determine the veracity of each bill in our transaction. I think not. I can almost guarantee you that at one point in your life you've had a counterfeit bill in your wallet/purse without knowing it. Does that make you guilty of a crime? No, it makes you the victim of one.

At most, his name and information should have been taken down, perhaps a cursory investigation performed to disclude him from involvement, a report filed with the US Secret Service (who could then pass these phony bills off to indiscriminate prostitutes who wouldn't know better), and the true investigations for true counterfeiters continue. This just seems crazy to arrest an individual in possession of a fake bill. Thoughts?

EDIT: I did a search to see if this was posted before I did so and nothing came up, and then of course, there it popped up shortly thereafter...lol. Typical. My apologies to the community for the redundancy, and MODS, please feel free to remove. Peace all...

(Shelbyville Times-Gazette) — What officers thought was a counterfeit $50 bill turned out to be an old, legitimate bill, but the truth wasn’t discovered until a man was mistakenly charged and jailed Friday.

A clerk at Quik Mart, South Cannon Boulevard, notified police after the marker used to detect counterfeit bills didn’t check as real.

“The front side of the bill was off center and it didn’t feel like a normal bill, it did look to be counterfeit,” officer Brock Horner said in his report.

If it was an error/misprint the bill is worth a lot more than face value to collectors.(fairly rare)

I had a cashier at a grocery store refuse a $20 bill she claimed was fake....but she gave it back to me. I was like if it's fake are you supposed to return it to the person or call the police? She said she didn't think I made it and she didn't want me to get in trouble. I gave her a different bill and later spent the one she claimed was fake. It was real she was just a ding bat. (She didn't use the magic pen I guess it just felt fake to her.)

reply to post by BBobb

I mean, each day we exchange these bills countless times. Am I or you supposed to measure the placement of the image or use a special pen to determine the veracity of each bill in our transaction. I think not. I can almost guarantee you that at one point in your life you've had a counterfeit bill in your wallet/purse without knowing it.

That's because physical money is obsolete in an age of electronics and interconnection. The problem of counterfeiting is solved with digital currencies such as Bitcoin.

I had a friend got to Taco Bell once.
He tried paying with a 2 Dollar Bill.
The Cashier said, "That's not real money".
My friend laughed then asked for a Manager after a little bit.
The Manager also claimed that the bill was not real.

/facepalm

reply to post by grey580




Same thing here but at Walgreens. Some girl said they just didn't accept $2 anymore. I just stood there speechless. After a couple seconds I just turned and walked out of the store.

I think it was one of the dumbest #ing things anybody has ever said to me!!!

Originally posted by grey580
I had a friend got to Taco Bell once.
He tried paying with a 2 Dollar Bill.
The Cashier said, "That's not real money".
My friend laughed then asked for a Manager after a little bit.
The Manager also claimed that the bill was not real.

/facepalm

Ha! Classic. I remember here in Texas when they changed the driver's licenses. My brother got one of the first ones and ran down to the store to buy some beer and the woman wouldn't sell it to him saying he had a phony ID. My brother didn't make a big point about it (hell, there's beer on every corner), he just said, "Ok, but you're gonna feel really stupid when you start seeing a lot of these!" That always made me laugh.

Originally posted by cavalryscout
If it was an error/misprint the bill is worth a lot more than face value to collectors.(fairly rare)

I had a cashier at a grocery store refuse a $20 bill she claimed was fake....but she gave it back to me. I was like if it's fake are you supposed to return it to the person or call the police? She said she didn't think I made it and she didn't want me to get in trouble. I gave her a different bill and later spent the one she claimed was fake. It was real she was just a ding bat. (She didn't use the magic pen I guess it just felt fake to her.)

The magic pens are now failing to detect the counterfeits, same with the machines.

Originally posted by grey580
I had a friend got to Taco Bell once.
He tried paying with a 2 Dollar Bill.
The Cashier said, "That's not real money".
My friend laughed then asked for a Manager after a little bit.
The Manager also claimed that the bill was not real.

/facepalm

Thats funny,.. an eastern indian at my local seven eleven didn't question the "non-existant" two dollar bill when I gave it to him

reply to post by BBobb


OP can i please get a link to this ... bc your source is my hometown paper haha ... i dont still live there but the whole family does so i really wanna check this out


EDIT* sorry its odd i actually had a STG in the car and sure enough there it was ... doesnt seem like anymore than an innocent mistake though ... but i will say i personally know the arresting officer ... good guy but a little non-critical when it comes to the ole thinkin department