Stay Alert, There Are Counterfeit $100 Bills Going Around Winnsboro

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The saying is cash is king, that is until it's a counterfeit bill, then it's useless. You don't want to end up with a useless bill from Winnsboro, Texas because counterfeit $100 bills along with smaller denominations have popped up and are being circulated in this small East Texas town.

Store cashiers, restaurant servers, and anyone dealing with money will want to be attentive and on high alert, with the cash they come into contact with because it could end up costing them in the long run.

These counterfeit bills are basically play money.

The Winnsboro Police Department issued an alert via their Facebook page alerting the public of these recognizable counterfeit bills because they have the words 'MOTION PICTURE PURPOSES' printed on the front and back of the bill. They look legit because of the color, blue metallic-looking ribbon that is placed vertically in the bill, but right by Franklin's head and across the top of the back of the bill it clearly states 'motion picture purposes'.

Turning down counterfeit bills.

My first job as a teenager was working at Six Flags Over Texas. While working in the retail division, I handled hundreds of bills totaling thousands of dollars each day and we had to be vigilant and mark the bills with a special pen, especially the high dollar bills, to potentially see if we were being passed a counterfeit bill. If it didn't pass the test, we had to refuse the bill because at that point it was a worthless piece of paper.

Counterfeit bill production

Just last week, my wife was watching an episode of 'Trafficked with Maria van Zeller' on National Geographic and Maria was investigating counterfeit bills that were being produced in Peru. A single operation in a small print shop in a business district could print as much as $6 million in a month and a half. Highly risky, but it's being done and those bills are coming right here and put into circulation. See the printing process happen in the following video.

Be alert to the cash you are receiving because once you have a counterfeit bill, you've lost all the value the denomination on that bill displays - whether its a $20, $50, $100 or even a $1 bill - it's a worthless piece of paper.