I don't know if this is a new scam or not, but if it's not, it's still something for everyone to be aware of as a potential problem.
I picked up a motor for my SBC swap last night. 300 bones for a long block 350. A hundred and 4 fifties. This morning I get a call from the guy I bought the parts from telling me the hundred is counterfeit. Says he tried to use it to buy gas this morning and the cashier at the station used their little magic pen and declared it bogus.
At the time when he called I was really pretty speechless. I have a conscience, and would feel bad if I actually gave the guy a bad bill. But frankly, what's the right thing to do? Especially since, I don't know this guy from anyone. How do I know he has a bad bill at all, and if it is, how do I know it's the one I gave him. Creates a bit of a dilemma.
So, part one of this is to say that apparently fake bills are much more common than we think. In this country primarily 20's are bad. Hundreds, less often, but it does happen. I would suggest a couple of things. First, get yourself one of those pens that they use to id bad money. Use it in front of the seller (or buyer) to confirm the validity of the bills. Second, before the transaction, take pictures of the bills with the serial numbers for reference. It sucks that we have to go through this, but the stress of a situation like this will ruin your day.
Part two is to give the rest of the story. Basically, when the guy called, I was kind of in shock and didn't know what to say or do. I told him I'd like some time to process the situation and try to come up with a reasonable solution. We hung up, but then he calls me back in like 20 minutes sort of insisting that I make some kind of commitment (such as just give him another hundred bucks) but I was unwilling to do that. So he then says he's right across the street from the police station and that he'll just take it over there and give them my phone number and let them sort if out. I imagine that he was under the mistaken impression that they would just do an 'all units" to my address to pick me up. But the fact his, the burden falls on him to prove everything, including that the bill (if it's actually fake) is the one I gave him. The cops did call me, but they aren't gong to do anything because naturally I had no idea the bill was no good (if in fact it was, I still think it was a good bill) However, even though I question the whole situation (I did catch him in a flat out lie where he said he took the bill to the bank and told him it was bad and then gave it back to him. They will not return a counterfeit bill, they're required to confiscate it, I confirmed this with my own PNC branch, which is the same bank he said he went to) But the point is, that had he been cool and not tried to bully me (man, I don't take to that even a little bit) I would have *probably* been willing to split the difference with him and offer to settle on another 50 bucks. But since he decided to get pissy with me about it, I'm not really all that inclined to be very cooperative. I'm waiting to talk to the cop he said he filed the report with to find out the legitimacy. I *suspect* the guy filed the report, but didn't turn over the bill, which he says he did. I'll probably know more tomorrow. But as it stands, I'm in the clear, he can't really do anything. He could try to appeal to my better side, but he's already kinda pissed me off over the whole thing between trying to contentious, and lying about taking to a bank.
Anyway, CYA boys, CYA.
[This message has been edited by Taijiguy (edited 07-23-2014).]
It was the sellers responsibility to make sure the bills were good at the time of the transaction. There is absolutely no way for you to know whether or not the bad $100 was the one you gave him, so tough luck on him.
In the future maybe you should photocopy the bills prior to paying the seller and have him sign it as the bills he received. That would give you a record of serial numbers and proof that he inspected them prior to completing the sale.
I wouldn't let it bother you.....it likely is a scam, but even if it isn't then it's his problem and not yours.
[This message has been edited by mrfiero (edited 07-23-2014).]
Even if you get a counterfeit bill from a bank or ATM, they won't make the bill good. The person in possession is the loser and can be charged with passing counterfeit. Your seller has no positive proof that he got the bill from you. It's just his word against yours, and as you suspect, it might be just a scam.
Ayup, where did you get the bill? From the bank, ATM, customer of yours?
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Originally posted by Fats:
Years ago I got a counterfeit 100 dollar bill at a place I was running.
I was counting the till, and something about it caught my eye. I compared it to others in the drawer, and it wasn't right. So I called the Police.
I was told, by the Police, that I could either cut my losses, or pass it off to the next business. :\
Brad
If it really was fake and with todays technology it is entirely possible to make a fake bill really easy but they generally are smaller bills as the people who pass them know most people won't bother testing or checking them. Did the cops see the bill and do they now have it?
When Melanie was manager of a pet shop when we met she got a couple but most were smaller bills than hundreds and were really bad fakes. but someone else took them at the register for something and couldn't remember who gave them to them, or didn't want to.
If the guy really had the pen to check them, why didn't he check them when you were giving them to him ? Who knows how many they gave back out to people as change during the day, small bills, 5s, 10s, 20s never get checked. That's how all the places I buy stuff at do it when I give them large bills. Sounds kind of fishy that the guy didn't check the bills eight then to me.
Now we have a litter of puppies for sale and now I am going to have Melanie get one of those pens just to be safe. But think about it, how many people actually look at those bills we get everyday? We could have all unknowingly passed them on ourselves if we don't check them ourselves when we get them.
Steve
------------------ Technology is great when it works, and one big pain in the ass when it doesn't
The pens are not even the best either. A few years back we had a big issue with bleaching. They take bills and bleach the face than reprint them with different values. It was 5s bleached to 50's. Any bills you get you really need to look for the water marks and read the small strips. Its really amazing the amount of work that is put into forging. Newest thing I have learned is the black light tests http://www.wikihow.com/Detect-Counterfeit-US-Money
I asked my bank's manager if it were possible I could have gotten the bill from the bank. He said that it's possible but not likely. That the tellers are pretty diligent in validating the bills as they come in. And that in fact, they handle so much money that they can generally tell a bad bill entirely by the way it feels.
I have to agree with the sentiment above that in most private transactions it is ultimately up to the final party that has the bill(s) in their possession to determine if they are real or not.
Some years ago - like before Craigslist - I had a friend that sold an old truck. It wasn't for a lot of money; he was asking $1,500 but eventually settled on a $1,000. The buyer came by, purchased the truck, the title was signed over and a single bill of sale for the buyer was produced (also why I always keep copies of things like this). After about five to ten minutes after the buyer had left, my friend realized that three of the bills were counterfeit 100 bills. He didn't originally see it because the buyer has laid them out on their faces in similar orientation, but when he flipped them over and actually felt on them, three were very different.
He had the buyer's name and number, but not much else. He did go to the police about it, but all they said is that since he did not perform due process in ensuring the bills were real there really wasn't much that the police could do. They could look up an address using the name and number, but it would be very difficult to prove just on word of mouth accusations from both parties. And yeah as mentioned above what would actually be pursued as a charge would be the *passing* of the counterfeit bill, not possession or creation.
Basically my friend was SOL in that he was holding onto a few bills that were as good as cheap toilet paper.
"How NOT to become a victim If you cash a check at the bank, it would be to your benefit if you stood in front of the teller and check your bills or have the teller check them in front of you before ever walking away. If you walk away - even if you stay inside the bank - they can say you might have swapped the money out. The safest way would be to do your business with your debit or credit card. That eliminates the counterfeit money.
Learn more about spotting counterfeit money by visiting the United States Secret Service website for pictures and descriptions. There are several independent websites that also show pictures and more ways to spot a counterfeit bill. Keep your eyes open and carefully watch every bill you accept or have the bank teller inspect each bill while you watch." http://voices.yahoo.com/wha...ll-from-5414405.html
I had a guy come into my store once, he had just come from the bank next door. He is one of our contractor customers, and got $800 in cash to pay for two generators. (he buys most of his supplies from us, so we give him deals on big items) Anyway, he handed me 8 $100 bills and i checked them with the marker, and 7 of them where fake. And he had literally just got them from the bank. Neither of us could believe it, we figured banks check on things like this, but i guess not.. I walked back over to the bank with him to show the tellers. They exchanged his bad bills with new real ones, and said they would hand them over to the authority's at the end of the week.
Weird thing was the bank tellers didnt even really react when i showed them the 7 fake $100's. They didnt seem surprised by it at all. So im guessing its alot more common than we might have thought.
I don't know if this is a new scam or not, but if it's not, it's still something for everyone to be aware of as a potential problem.
When I was unemployed for a while, I was working part-time at a restaurant and the owner was paying me in cash... I was young and didn't know any better. Anyway, when he paid me, one of the $50s that he gave me turned out to be a counterfit. Just as you said... the bank took it. I had actually deposited it in the ATM, and they gave me less $50. I was kind of mad because I was totally broke... power had been shut off earlier, and my roommate was pissed at me. Anyway, the FBI called me to just run me through a couple of questions... IE: where did I get it, etc.
I would suspect that IF it's a counterfit, and he took it to the police station, they would probably be forced to take it as well. Neither you or him have done anything wrong; HOWEVER, if it attempts to use it knowing that it's counterfit, then he IS in fact committing a crime, and he really needs to be careful with that.
If it were me, I'd tell him to just meet me at the police station, and I'd give him another $100 bucks... that's how I roll. But if he's not willing to hand it in at the station, then I'd tell him to get lost.
