A fake $20 bill left one Holmes Beach restaurateur empty-handed. And a customer at another restaurant turned up with a fake $10 bill.
Zoe Witcomb, co-owner of Tortilla Bay Southwest Grill, 5318 Marina Drive, accepted a fake $20 Nov. 8, but wasn’t aware it had no value until she attempted to deposit it.
“It’s our first one since we’ve been open,” Witcomb said. “Looking at it, it’s really hard to tell, and it came on our busiest day of the week.”
Witcomb said an employee at Wells Fargo Bank, 5327 Gulf Drive, Holmes Beach, alerted her to the fake bill when she attempted to make her Nov. 10 deposit.
“I almost felt guilty just having it, but it wasn’t my bill. It was in my weekend deposit,” Witcomb said.
Witcomb said the bill was missing a security strip that is embedded within U.S. currency — a detail she wasn’t aware of before accepting the bad bill. She also said a thin black line could be made out on the peripheral of the fake bill, most likely where the maker indicated it for trimming.
“Counterfeit bills are an industrywide problem and a serious crime. We have systems in place to help us detect counterfeit bills, yet no system is foolproof. Once we find what we believe to be a counterfeit bill, we contact the U.S. Secret Service who conducts an investigation,” said Kathy Harrison, vice president of corporate communications at Wells Fargo Bank.
Witcomb asked to hold onto the bill in order to educate her employees. She also brought the counterfeit $20 to a neighboring business with a counterfeit-detecting pen.
“We tried the pen on it, and it turned black. If you use one of those pens, you’ll know right away.” she said.
She said when she opened her store six years ago Holmes Beach police officers told her there had been numerous reports of counterfeit $50 bills circulating that were printed over $5 bills.
She’s always instructed her employees to check bills larger than $20 by holding them up to the light. She said now she will add $20s to the list.
Witcomb said Wells Fargo employees also told her there had not been any other counterfeit bills reported at the bank.
“I wanted people to know about it so other merchants can be aware,” Witcomb said. “You don’t get it back. You’re just out the money.”
Holmes Beach Police Chief Bill Tokajer said a counterfeit $10 was reported Nov. 13 at the Subway Restaurant, 3232 E. Bay Drive.
According to Tokajer, a customer in the Subway had the bill and asked the clerk to use the store’s counterfeit-detecting pen, saying the bill did not “feel right.”
The pen revealed the bill to be a fake and the customer called HBPD. Tokajer said the bill was provided to Detective Sgt. Brian Hall for investigation. No information was provided about where the bill originated.
Tokajer said he believes the incidents are unrelated.
He added that anyone who thinks they may be in possession of counterfeit money can bring the bill to the police department for inspection. Harrison said people can also bring the bills into a financial institution, which will be able to test bills.
“The best way to avoid taking in counterfeit money is to utilize detection materials, such as the pen, and by paying attention to what you take in,” Tokajer said.