Counterfeit
bills passed off at area businesses
By LAURA
HAGAN
lhagan@owentonnewsherald.com
Local businesses should
be on the lookout for counterfeit $50 bills.
Family Dollar locations in Owenton and Frankfort have both reported
counterfeit bills at their businesses. The bills were used in
late February and were not discovered by the stores until they
were sent back from the bank.
Officer Rufus Shearer of the Owenton Police Department said the
50s are being made from $5 bills. While the department has no
leads on who is producing the bills, Shearer said he wants to
inform local business to watch for the fake bills.
Shearer said there had been a counterfeit $100 bill in the county
last year, but usually any fake bills the county sees are “fives
or tens.”
Anna Warfield is the manager of the Frankfort Family Dollar location.
She said she has trained all her employees on what to look for.
The Frankfort location has had two of the 50s come across its
counter. While one was returned from the bank, the other was used
by a woman who said she had gotten it from the bank.
“It shows the wrong president,” Warfield said of the
bills, “and you can’t read the ‘USA fifty,’
it’s blurry.”
Melissa McGuire, manager of the Owenton Family Dollar, said a
bill was received in the store on Feb. 24 and sent back from the
bank on Feb. 27.
“It marks good,” she said, about a special ink-test
many businesses do on higher bills. “It has the same serial
number.”
McGuire said her staff is paying more attention to all 50s and
100s.
All involved believe the same person is responsible for all of
the bills, but currently have no information on a specific person
of interest.
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