Typically our blog posts are designed to help and inform resellers but today’s post is one you should share with EVERYONE in your life, because this is crazy.

This story begins in Michigan on April 13th, 2021. Our FedEx Freight driver arrives to deliver our pallets and he says “Look what I found in the parking lot!” and proceeds to show me this:

My immediate response was “It’s your lucky day!”, to which he replies, “I thought that too…. But it’s fake”. In confusion I responded, “How do you know?”, then he pointed out a couple things:

I was shocked. I had never seen fake money before and it looks and feels so real. I realized at that moment that anyone could have given me this and I never would have known it was fake.

I took photos of the fake bill and chalked it up to a random situation then went back to working.

MAY 20th, 2021: My husband comes home from work and says “Look what I found in our front yard”:

….and this one also tricked me until my husband said “It’s fake”:

Again, I have to emphasize to you, this fake currency feels totally legit, smells like normal money… there’s utterly no difference whatsoever other than a few lines of text. It was at this time that I realized this is not an isolated issue because two totally different people in two completely different locations both found fake money within 30 days time. I then began digging to try to figure out how this is being so easily obtained by people and I instantly came across endless listings on the internet, including Amazon, for all different kinds of “realistic prop money” for $12 or less:

So not only can you buy this fake money, but you can have it quickly and discreetly delivered right to your door. Things get even crazier; there’s websites like UndetectedBanknotes.com that offer literal “Counterfeit Currency”.

TIPS FOR AVOIDING FAKE MONEY:

As crazy as this may sound, avoid paying in cash so you don’t get cash back.

If you do prefer to pay in cash you absolutely should keep a counterfeit detector marker in your purse. Counterfeit markers are very cheap:

If you absolutely cannot carry a marker then you will want to THOROUGHLY EXAMINE every bill you are given as change. The problem with this is that there are so many different styles of fake money that there is no specific thing you should look for. If you plan to examine every bill, do so WHILE you are in the store. DO NOT LEAVE THE STORE until you are assured every bill is legit, especially if the denomination is $20 or higher.  

Lastly:  THINK TWICE ABOUT BEING A GOOD CITIZEN WHEN SOMEONE ASKS IF YOU CAN MAKE CHANGE FOR THEM.  If a stranger approaches you and gives you a sob story and begs you to trade them their $20 for two of your $10 bills, SAY NO.   Equally, if you're selling an item on Craigslist or online with local pickup and payment, be sure to get the counterfeit detector markers.