Counterfeiters Hit Frederick, Maryland, Hard

Three Men Still at Large

Gina Gallucci-White is reporting on the FrederickNewsPost.com that 15 stores within a one mile area in Frederick, Maryland, were targets of people trying to pass counterfeit $100 bills.

The article, titled "Frederick shopping centers hit by counterfeiters," reports that twelve stores were located in the Francis Scott Key Mall and, three stores were in the Frederick Crossing Shopping Center.

There has been one arrest. David Bailey, 20, was arrested at Best Buy. He had previously tried to buy a $2 bag of chips at the Dollar Tree with a $100 bill.

The idea of using a large counterfeit bill for a purchase is to buy something cheap thereby getting a lot of change in legitimate money.

The major damage was inflicted at the Francis Scott Key Mall where, according to witnesses, 3 black men hit 12 stores and probably made $1,000.

Stores hit were JC Penny, Sears, Maui Wowi, Yankee Candle, Holister Co., Pac Sun, Journeys, Game Stop, Hallmark, Spencer Gifts, Barnes and Noble and Today's Pet Store.

When captured, the counterfeiters face several charges that include fraud, theft, thefts scheme and counterfeiting.

Tender not part of a country's normal money, can do major damage to an already frail economy. Also, it can promote black market activity.

When I was in Vietnam we were paid in script or "funny money" as we called it. It looked exactly like Monopoly money.

Soldiers spent that money on drugs and prostitutes among other things. At that point, if the locals needed something they would get hold of a soldier and pay him twice as much (and up) for needed staples. This activity was funneled by maids that worked on military bases. Also, soldiers could spend regular American money in the Vietnamese economy which would buy even more and could help the Viet Cong finance the war.

Counterfeiting hasn't made the news too often recently. The U.S. Mint has made it very difficult for people to copy the bills. Further, clerks at retail stores are often trained in methods to identify such bills by exposing the fake money to marker ink.

Perhaps these clerks didn't do their job, or perhaps the crooks were just that good.

References: