[Southsider2k12]

http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?Sectio...amp;TM=32931.22

Phony bills turn up at store, bank

Laurie Wink
The News-Dispatch

Several counterfeit $100 bills were passed or attempted to be passed at two Michigan City retailers Monday.

A store manager at Menard's, 5260 Franklin St., told police at 4 p.m. she was called by the head cashier to examine a $100 bill received from a female customer. The bill didn't look right, and the store manager told the customer she had to go to the office to drop the bill in the safe.

On closer examination, the manager found a bar code on the bill indicating it was actually a $5 bill. By the time the manager returned to the cashier, the customer had left the store.

A bank manager at Fifth/Third Bank, 3710 Franklin St., reported to police that at 8:30 a.m. he took in the night deposits and found a counterfeit $100 in the deposit from Big Lots. The bill had the same serial number as the one passed at Menard's.



Contact Laurie Wink at lwink@thenewsdispatch.com.

[Roger Kaputnik]

This is making me look closer at my bills. Bar codes? Does that mean it could be tied to you if you, f'rinstance, use a grocery card and use a bar coded bill?

[Ang]

Hold a bill up to the light with the face toward you. About one third on the right end you will see a magnetic strip inside the bill. They originally put those in to set off metal detectors at airports and such to prevent people from taking large quantities of cash out of the country. They also come in handy to fight counterfieting. Furthermore, you will see a watermark in the bill of a larger version of the face of whatever president is on the bill.
I think they're referring to the magnetic strip when they speak of "bar codes". I believe the bills can be scanned and the magnetic strip is encoded with the money information--like a bar code

[Roger Kaputnik]

I thought he meant he could see some code.

The mag strip would allow Big Brother to track us.