With Y2K and Christmas approaching fast, you might want to be on the lookout for counterfeit money (no, not Monopoly money...) and know how to identify legit currency (watermarks, etc.) other than by electronic processes.

My personal experience: Last Saturday (12/4) I went to a Fashion Bug in Delaware, Ohio (Rt. 23) to return a purchase. Ahead of me was a customer who paid in cash. The cashier apologized to the customer and said that it would take a while longer to process the cash - the cashier then took the bills and ran a laser scanner over them. When the customer asked why, the cashier explained that she had personally seen counterfeit $20 and $50 bills recently and knew another cashier that had seen a bad $100 bill. The bank confiscated the money and left Fashion Bug in the lurch - no reimbursement for counterfeits received.

Just a thought and warning to watch out for those who might try to take advantage of any problems that might occur.

-- Deb M. (vmcclell@columbus.rr.com), December 10, 1999

Answers

There has been a lot of counerfeit 20's circulating here in Southern Missouri. Everyone has been on the lookout.

-- (lookin close)LM (latemarch@usa.net), December 10, 1999.

Counterfeits circulating in Durham, NC, too--20s, 50s and 100s.

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), December 10, 1999.

Are these new bills or old?

-TECH32-

-- TECH32 (TECH32@NOMAIL.COM), December 10, 1999.

TECH,

I'm not sure. The cashier was scanning ALL cash that came through.

-- Deb M. (vmcclell@columbus.rr.com), December 10, 1999.

So, use your credit card instead. You won't have to pay them off til... January.

It's going to be interesting.

-- the post office (is@not.compliant), December 10, 1999.

From: Y2K, ` la Carte by Dancr (pic), near Monterey, California

So... where does one get one of these scanners? Are they portable? Can they be battery operated? Cost? Inquiring minds want to know.

-- Dancr (addy.available@my.webpage), December 10, 1999.

I fail to see why the Feds even care about counterfitting. It's not as if the Federal Reserve notes are backed by ANYTHING of value. So what if the counterfits aren't backed up either.

Most likely it's because the Federal Reserve hasn't gotten their cut of the money... :)

-- Bill (billclo@msgbox.com), December 11, 1999.

Dancr,

Hello. I'm not sure where Fashion Bug got the scanner from, or how much it cost them. It looked like the regular hand-held laser scanner that they scan the price tags with (at least from where I stood). My bet is that they're electrical and if there are problems, those at the "front lines" had better be careful of what they take in...

-- Deb M. (vmcclell@columbus.rr.com), December 11, 1999.