On July 15, a fake $100 bill was used to buy a snow cone at about 4:30 p.m. at TropiCool Shaved Ice in the 1300 block of Main Street. The suspect received approximately $95 in change from the purchase, according to the police report.
A suspect also attempted to pass a counterfeit $100 bill a few hours earlier at Sonic restaurant in the 1500 block of Erie Boulevard, according to police.
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Also on July 15, two fake $20 bills were used at Family Dollar in the 1200 block of Main Street.
On July 19, a suspect bought cigarettes and a bottle of tea, totaling $34, with fake cash at United Dairy Farmers in the first block of Brookwood Avenue, according to police reports.
One of the local business owners, who did not want to be identified for fear of retaliation, said at least one more business was also defrauded last week and police have a suspect.
He said there were several males riding on bicycles who used movie prop money that can be ordered online.
The suspects were targeting smaller business or busy stores where employees are younger or less experienced, he said.
“I don’t think people should be able to buy prop money on the internet,” the Hamilton business owner said.
He noted a careful look a the bill revealed Chinese writing, but it could easily pass a quick look by a busy clerk.
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The fake cash readily available for purchase online looks real but is marked for movie use or with foreign writing.
Police in Hamilton, Middletown, West Chester Twp. and Liberty Twp. say fake bills passed at stores happen from time to time and usually include several incidents at once.
“It used to take some effort,” said Middletown police Sgt. Scott Reeve about producing and passing fake cash. “But now what we are seeing is the movie prop kind.”
A Middletown woman was cited on July 13 for criminal simulation after a traffic stop when officers found a large amount of fraudulent money in her purse. Julie Wagers told officers she had gotten the money from someone at the Riverfont Motel and wanted to use it on a lottery machine to see if it would work to make fraudulent transactions, according to the Middletown police report.
Officers said in the report that the fake bills looked real, but on close inspection the serial numbers were all the same and there was a foreign language written in pink on the back.
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Reeve said he investigated a case recently that involved a family who deposited cash into a bank account and discovered it was counterfeit.
“They were pretty upset,” Reeve said. “They wanted to dispute it because they thought the bank had switched the money. They believed they took real money to the bank, but on the back it said for motion pictures. It is very good, to the average person it looks real and the are likely for fall for it.”
A quick search showed at least five websites offering prop money touting “highest quality.” Most would ship in one day and ranged from $13.99 for two stacks of $20 bills to $34.99 for $50,000 in “aged” $100 bills.
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