Counterfeit bills continue to be found in Eunice, according to Eunice Police Chief Randy Fotenot.
A flurry of bogus bills surfacedin December and early January, he said, but while reports to police diminished banks continued to find the fake money, he said.
The difficult thing about the fake bills is they pass undetected by pens used by many merchants to spot a counterfeit.
Most of the counterfeit bills are $20.
One common clue recently has been the series on the front of the bills is “2013.” On the back is “164.”
If you hold a bill up to the light there is a strip that goes down the left side of the bill and that strip will be be visible on a fake bill.
“We have contacted the Secret Service to handle investigations in the past, but they really don’t work on $20 bills,” he said. “They are after the big stuff.”
For the average person spotting the bills may prove difficult. Fontenot said fake bills often feel a little thicker than the read bills and the bills may feel waxy.
Another clue is the fake bills usually have the same serial numbers.
Sometimes the fakes have misspellings or the wrong phrase as “Not legal tender” intead of “Legal tender,” he said.
“Movie money” also has surfaced. That’s money used in move productions that somehow surfaces on in public use.
The bad news about getting a counterfeit bill is the last person discovered with it is the loser. The bill has to be turned into the Secret Service.
