The Benton Police Department wants to warn individuals and businesses about a recent increase in the number of counterfeit currency cases being reported to our agency. From January until now, officers have taken 21 reports involving 25 counterfeit bills in the city. This is a much higher than average number of counterfeit currency during such a short time span. The currency ranged anywhere from a five dollar to one hundred dollar bills.
There haven’t been any arrests to date involving the counterfeit currency since the bills were traced back to previous circulatory routes (banks, businesses, etc.) and they didn’t appear to originate with the individual using it. The information about the cases has been forwarded to the U.S. Secret Service for possible follow-up investigation.
Individuals and business owners can help guard against being a victim of counterfeit currency by becoming more familiar with United States currency. They should thoroughly look at the money they receive and compare a suspect bill with a genuine bill of the same denomination and series. Special attention should be given to the quality of printing and paper characteristics, and look for differences instead of similarities. Although counterfeit detection pens can be helpful, they can sometimes give false results and additional research might be needed to determine its legitimacy.
If anyone encounters what they believe is a counterfeit bill, and they can’t make a determination whether it’s real or not, they are encouraged to contact us at 501-778-1171 to have an officer check it out. Additional information about counterfeit currency and detection techniques can be found on the U.S. Secret Service website at: www.secretservice.gov
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