Beware of phony money!
Photos by SHOSHONE COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE The “fake” or “training” bill found in Wallace and turned into the sheriff’s office. Note the red Chinese letters to the left of the portrait and a diagonal line in the upper right corner. These markings indicate that it is a fake.
The reverse side of the bill shows red Chinese markings and a corner diagonal line as well.
WALLACE — The Shoshone County Sheriff’s Office would like to remind residents to take a look at their cash before they accept or spend it following two separate discoveries of “fake money” in the Silver Valley.
The most recent discovery was on Wednesday, March 21 when a concerned citizen found a strange looking $100 bill laying on the ground in Wallace. The citizen turned the item into SCSO and upon its review, the note was determined to be a Chinese training $100 bill. These “fake” or training bills are used in China and other countries to familiarize bank tellers with U.S. currency. Their intended purpose is to avoid the risk of trainees stealing real currency.
At a glance, these fakes share many similarities with real U.S. bills such as color and design. Upon closer examination though, the training notes show distinct red Chinese lettering on both sides and also have a number of incorrect features.
Due to their availability and rough approximation to the real thing, con artists have turned to using the notes more and more in recent years.
A quick internet search reveals that an individual can acquire more than a hundred of these fake bills in any denomination for less than a real $20. Scammers rely on the recipients of the fake bills to simply not pay attention during a transaction since they are easy to spot otherwise.
SCSO Captain Jeremy Groves stated in a news release that those who deal with money on a daily basis should, “ensure you take all precautions and time to verify you are receiving real money and not being passed something else.”
Although SCSO has only come across $100 denominations of the fakes, there is still a possibility that other denominations could be floating around.
Due to an active investigation, Groves declined to elaborate further on the first incident where the bill(s) appeared, but added that more information could be released at a later time.