The Washington area has been hit hard by counterfeiters who are converting $5 bills into $100 bills, the U.S. Secret Service said Monday.
The funny-money makers are bleaching out Abraham Lincolns, then reprinting the bills with Benjamin Franklins, said Todd Kreisher, assistant special agent in charge at the Washington field office.
“It’s our hot case now,” Kreisher said.
The bleached money scam has been around the D.C. area for about 18 months but now makes up about half of the agency’s counterfeit money cases, Kreisher said. The Secret Service issued an alert Monday to area law-enforcement agencies to warn businesses about the fake bills.
The scheme appears to involve many individuals working separately, rather than one operation, Kreisher said. Arrests have been made in D.C., Prince George’s County, Montgomery County and Virginia. Kreisher could not discuss those cases because the investigations were still ongoing.
The bills look real at first glance. The security thread is still there, and counterfeit detection pens do not recognize it as fake because it is printed on genuine currency paper.
The easiest way to detect the phony cash is to hold the bill up to a light, Kreisher said. If you hold a fake $100 bill up to the light, you’ll see a reprinted Benjamin Franklin in the center, but the ghost image of Abraham Lincoln on the watermark to the right. The faces should match up on a legitimate bill.
Also, the security thread for a $100 is red, while the thread on the $5 is blue, Kreisher said.
