Fake $50 bills in South Euclid, phony $20 bills in Fairview Park, and more of the same in Rocky River.
In Fairview Park a man and woman have been using counterfeit money at Giant Eagle and Burger King and getting real cash back when change was made. But several alert clerks recognized the phony money.
”The feel and appearance was just slightly different, and none of the watermarks, no strip on it and they picked up on that,” said Fairview Park Police Chief Erich Upperman.
Rocky River is also getting reports of counterfeit $10 and $20 bills that look like the real thing.
"We've had a series of events, Westwood Town Center has been hit specifically and especially the McDonald's, where a white male, older with an accent, driving a silver car, has been passing $10 and $20 bills like crazy,” said Rocky River Police Chief Kelly Stallman.
Police say real money is made of cloth, fake money feels like paper, and there's a reason crooks are using fake 10$ and $20 more instead of $50 and $100.
Clerks are trained to check those larger bills with a pen, if the ink changes color it's fake.
“Clerks usually check the larger bills $50 and $100 bills, a lot of places won't even except any of those, because of this kind of stuff,” Upperman said.
Making counterfeit money is a felony.
