Funny Money - NOT!

[Glenn]

I found 4 of these altered bill in my changers this morning. See attachment. They all paid out $10 from Mars 2600 and Hamilton validators.

[Anonymous]

Only if Florida, home of the hanging chad, would people counterfeit one's.

Seriously though, have you checked the sensitivity of your acceptor to to reject more bills that aren't perfect?

[Glenn]

This scan doesn't do the bill justice. These bills are perfect. Obviously the person who did this must know that the validator reads the center part of the bill. I talked to a local deputy and he told me the way this is done. You attach a $1 bill to a $10 bill (the older tens) Then you simultaneously cut out the center of the bills with a sharp cutter. Then tape the center of the ten to the one and vise versa. The ones go into changers and the tens go to any store with a flunky cashier who only looks at the "10" in the corners. You turn $11 into $20.

[Chuckels]

This also happened to us but I was consoled by the fact that the crook still has to spend the other part at a store or ?? It is a lot more risky spending the other part and their net is only $9.00. It would have been a safer world though if the technique was not so well described here.

Chuckles

[garrett]

Could someone please take the description of how to do this off the forum??? Why make it easy for us to get ripped off? Or is this another premium service?

[DaveLevenson]

I'm getting 30-40 of these aluminum Chinese coins every week in my tops with V-8 coin-slides, and in my dryers with Greenwald mechanical timers. I get a few in my fronts with Keltner drops, and none in my newer fronts with Set-O-Matic drops. The coin is very close to a quarter in diameter and thickness. It weighs less than a dime. It has the number 5 on it, and some Chinese text.

Does anybody know what these are worth?

If I were able to find out who is doing this, would I have any legal recourse? Is it a crime to pass these coins? If so, who prosecutes such activity? (If not, where can I unload them!)