SPOKANE, Wash. – We have heard of Spokane restaurants being hit with counterfeit money, but now it is happening at yard sales too. Even the police said they had never seen such a thing before.
Carey Aikman held a yard sale at his home on Sunday. At one point, Aikman said they had 20 people in their backyard and with everything that was going on, they did not even consider the possibility that someone would pay with counterfeit money.
“Somebody came in and bought some larger items and you know in the chaos we weren’t really checking bills, you didn’t think about it,” Aikman said.
He said a man paid with two counterfeit $50 bills. Though, the family did not realize it until they tried to deposit the money at the bank. The bank ended up holding the bills.
Even the secret service is investigating the ongoing counterfeit problem in Spokane.
“Luckily, we went straight to the bank because if we hadn’t, we went out to dinner that night, went to a place that we know people; they’d never check our money so we could’ve taken those bills and put it on somebody else,” Aikman said.
Here are some things you should look for to avoid counterfeit money:
- Hold it up to the light. There is a watermark you should be able to see in the bill.
- Also look for a strip.
- Feel the president’s jacket on the bill. If the bill is real, you should be able to feel some kind of texture.
If the bill does not have all three of those things, the bill is probably counterfeit.
Aikman now wants to warn other families who plan to have yard sales to be on the lookout for fake cash.
“I’m a little insulted, I mean, it’s not like we’re a big business or anything, we’re just trying to make some money to finance our move,” Aikman said.