Store clerks ge serious about funny money

Wednesday, May 6, 1998 | 9:40 a.m.

Store clerks are taking a closer look at $20 bills these days as a rash of counterfeit notes are making the rounds in Las Vegas.

Last weekend, clerks at some area stores took a few extra seconds to look at the smaller denomination bills. Some even used anti-counterfeit detecting devices generally reserved for $50 and $100 bills.

"The government will be coming out with the new 20s soon, so they (counterfeiters) are knocking out a lot of them these days," said Francine Ferrero, owner of Counterfeit Currency Consultants, which sells anti-counterfeit devices to area businesses.

"Counterfeiters can now make good (cost-effective) $20 bills because they can buy a computer ink-jet printer for $400, where they used to have to spend $45,000 on a color copier that produced similar work."

Joe Saitta, special agent in charge of the Secret Service office in Las Vegas, said that while his agency hasn't made any big seizures of fake 20s in recent weeks he does not doubt that there could be more of them floating around.

"It's good to see that clerks are being more concerned and checking the bills," he said. "There has been a big increase in computer-generated counterfeits from $20 to $100 bills. Because of affordable desktop publishing, they account for way more than 50 percent of counterfeits."

As a result, Saitta notes that it takes a lot less skilled labor in the counterfeiting business today. And Ferrero warns that those passing the bills target businesses that hire less skilled labor at the cash registers.

"They look for small stores where the pace is fast, there usually are long lines and the clerks are not trained to look for counterfeit bills," Ferrero said.

"I recently sold a device to a convenience store where the owner was stuck with eight counterfeit $100 bills in a single week. She hasn't taken in one since."

Naturally, Ferrero recommends the investment in anti-counterfeit devices, saying that they pay for themselves the first few times they detect phony bills and prevent them from getting into the cash register.

Also many of those electronic devices also detect fake credit cards, travelers checks and payroll checks.

Ferrero says that for businesses that do not want to make the investment in one of the devices she sells -- they range in price from $275 to $1,450 -- there are other precautions that can be taken.

"Feel the money and take time to look at it," she said. "Also, in bills since 1990 there is a thin polymer strip to the left of the portrait (and mint seal) that repeats 'USA Twenty.' Many forgeries do not have it."

The Secret Service says other signs a bill may be counterfeit include a lifeless portrait that blends into a dark background; uneven, blunt or broken sawtooth points on the Federal Reserve and Treasury seals; improperly aligned or wrong colored serial numbers and non-distinct fine lines that crisscross inside the bill.

Counterfeit bills tend to show up a lot more during holidays when there are more people in town. Such was the case last weekend with the early observance of Cinco de Mayo.

"During holidays, people get the idea (to pass counterfeits)," Saitta said. "They think they can come into town, make quick money and get out."

Locally the Secret Service confiscates about $10,000 a month in locally passed funny money.