Alert: Counterfeit $100 Bills Circulating in Fox Point

If you are handed a $100 bill, make sure it is not really a $5 bill. The is investigating a single individual trying to pass off counterfeit bills in Fox Point.

On Saturday, at 9 a.m., an Fox Point police officer responded to a call at in Audubon Court for a fraud incident.

While processing the receipts from the previous evening, employee Kimberly Bauer told officers that she discovered the bill and believed it to be counterfeit. When police arrived, she showed the bill to the officer and after he examined it, he concluded as well that it was counterfeit. The watermark in the paper showed President Abraham Lincoln’s face, traditionally on a $5 bill, and the security ribbon matched for a five-dollar bill, but the exterior printing of the bill showed it to be a $100 bill - proving counterfeit.

But this isn't the first attempt in the North Shore with counterfeit money lately. Fox Point police received another report of attempted fraud with counterfeit money on Friday at in the River Point Shopping Center. No transaction occurred there, and the suspect fled when a  manager was summoned, but the description of the incident matched nearly perfectly to the description police received at Starbucks.

Employees at both businesses described the suspect as a black male, just over five feet tall, with a goatee and a “bad back.” He’s described as talkative and complaining about his back injury. Police were given the same description by other businesses in the area while canvassing.

According to a press release from the Fox Point Police Department, "Bills will not appear counterfeit with a currency pen, as the suspect is using actual U.S. currency to commit the fraud. Personnel will need to check for the security measure in the money.

Here are a few tips from the Fox Point Police Department regarding counterfeit bills:

• Look for a security thread (a plastic strip) running from top to bottom. If you hold the bill to the light, you can easily see the strip, and it will say "USA" along with the denomination spelled out. 
• Hold the bill up to the light to check for the watermark. The watermark should match the face in the middle of the bill.
• Tilt the bill to examine the color-shifting ink.
• Run your fingernail over the "vest" of the bill. You should feel distinctive ridges, printers are not able to reproduce this ridge effect of a press.