Reply #13: Well as a retail clerk... [View All]

[Chan790]

We're instructed to call the police. It's for our protection and yours. It's only illegal to knowingly pass counterfeit currency...realistically, in that situation you're going to have to go to the police station and give a statement...and tell them where/how you received the counterfeit bills, if you know. It'll ruin your day, but unless you've been running all over town distributing fake $20 bills in substantial quantities (usually a fairly good indicator that you're involved) you aren't going to be arrested. You're just out some $ and the hour it took for the cop to interview you and get a statement. Don't leave the scene after we've called the police...it's a crime to leave the scene of a crime...and you are also a victim.

You're not necessarily out the $ long-term either as almost all counterfeiters are caught and the law in most jurisdictions is set up to make it easier for you to sue the grafter to recoup your material losses and expenses.

We use the pens...they might suck and give false positives but rarely or never false negatives. (That is...sometimes real bills register as fake, but fake bills never register as real.)

Counterfeit, altered, "washed" or stolen checks are far more common. I've seen 2 or 3 (at least) of each of those...but never a counterfeit bill.