Apparently, I was fooled by a Counterfeiter...

[Horsetuna]

And didnt realise it.

I dont know when it happened or who, but one of the RP (Resource Protection aka Security) wanted me to help identify the woman.

No big deal. I'll help as best I can. Luckily when I see a bill/face I can recall most of how I dealt with them if it was in the past few days.

I'm mostly worried though. Can one get in trouble in Canada for falling for a counterfeiter?

It couldn't be counterfeit money, as I check every bill that's 50 and over, and I'm good at checking them, so it must have been a receipt or something, or a stolen card.

[Gurndigarn]

I'm mostly worried though. Can one get in trouble in Canada for falling for a counterfeiter?

Unlikely. They would have a real hard time proving intent. And if they tried to jail someone for not catching something that's designed to not be caught, well....

[Boozy]

I'm mostly worried though. Can one get in trouble in Canada for falling for a counterfeiter?

Only if they can prove that you were in collusion with the counterfeiter to accept the cash. Getting fooled is not a crime.

Your store might not be happy with you if you've been taught how to recognize counterfeits and didn't bother checking. But if you did check, and the counterfeit was a very good one, they won't blame you either.

I used to work for a bank, and the tellers were always getting passed counterfeits. We had phenomenal training in spotting counterfeits, and there were still at least a dozen phony bills a week passed through our branch. When you're counting hundreds of bills at a time, its easy to miss one. They didn't worry too much about it at the bank, and I'm sure the same is true at your store.

[Horsetuna]

They gave us no counterfeit training. I only know because of previous jobs where I was taught, and I read those posters on the wall that showed you how to spot a counterfeit. we'll see how this pans out.

[Gabrielle Proctor]

It probably wasn't a $50 or $100. It was probably a $20. If you think about it, a twenty is high enough to want to counterfeit, but no one is going to check it because everyone pays with a twenty.

[GolfCart34]

It probably wasn't a $50 or $100. It was probably a $20. If you think about it, a twenty is high enough to want to counterfeit, but no one is going to check it because everyone pays with a twenty.

I know here in the U.S. it's much more common to get a fake $20 than a fake $50 or $100 bill. I mean, think about how many $20 bills places take in on a given day. We take in TONS at our bank. Counterfeiting usually isn't an issue with paper money at our bank, we have more issues with fake checks and money orders (that's why we have such tight restrictions on who we cash them for). But for the money, people insist that $50's and $100's are always faked, but nobody fakes the $20's. I have to tell them that I've been in retail for several years before coming to the bank and it's actually the $20's that they should be worrying about more. But you know those senior citizen customers. They like their $20 bills.

[Broomjockey]

I've had police tell me that $20s are the most commonly counterfeitted, yet places repeatedly stop accepting $50s and $100s. It doesn't make much sense, because they also don't train people on looking for counterfeits. They might lose more from a single higher denomination fake, but they get more often with the lower ones.

[TNT]

We used to get some fake twenties when we had our own business... I was really pissed, because they were some pretty terrible fakes. I had like $2,000 in twenties one day, and the fake was as obvious as someone sticking a paper napkin in the pile.

The eyes... in US money, always look at the eyes on the portrait. They're so detailed, only a master counterfeiter can even come close. And master counterfeiters have better things to do than pass a twenty at a local bar.

[chops]

20s are too common for stores to stop taking them...most of it is because just about every ATM in the USA spits out 20s...most of them give 20s exclusively.

I've had police tell me that $20s are the most commonly counterfeitted, yet places repeatedly stop accepting $50s and $100s.

I was thinking about this...maybe it's not as much a counterfeiting issue than an issue of these stores customarily not carrying enough change to break a 50 or 100?

[Broomjockey]

I was thinking about this...maybe it's not as much a counterfeiting issue than an issue of these stores customarily not carrying enough change to break a 50 or 100?

For hole-in-the-wall stores in the food court, probably. But a movie theatre that does a couple thousand in business daily? And we were to absolutely not take $50s unless they had NOTHING else. Nothing, nada. As in, the only thing to their name was that $50. One time, I had to take 2, TWO! T-W-O! In one shift. That's it. And the manager read me the freaking riot act. Then again, he was an ass anyway. And if I ever meet him outside that building, I'll read him the riot act.

So to summarize, minus the ranting, yes, I'm sure for some places that do low business levels, that's true. But there are places where the stated reason is fear of counterfeits.

[chops]

In my defense, I didn't think of businesses that don't regularly do safe drops (i.e., convenience stores).

I could only figure that these places tend to think that bigger bills=bigger risk, which is true to a point. <preach target="choir"> But when 20s are so prevalent, what are they going to do, ban 20s? Obviously not, which is where this becomes a Catch-22.</preach>

[Broomjockey]

In my defense, I didn't think of businesses that don't regularly do safe drops (i.e., convenience stores).

I could only figure that these places tend to think that bigger bills=bigger risk, which is true to a point. <preach target="choir"> But when 20s are so prevalent, what are they going to do, ban 20s? Obviously not, which is where this becomes a Catch-22.</preach>

Sorry, didn't mean to seem like I was snapping at you or anything, I'm just still mad at that manager over a year later (would you yell at an employee quitting for stress reasons? In the middle of the lobby? during the evening rush?).

And I know everyone knows this, because as you said, we're the choir (), but really, what they need to do is give some in-depth training, periodic refreshers, and maybe some minor "stings" about it. Have the manager send in a friend with a fake, and see if the employee catches it.

[chops]

Sorry, didn't mean to seem like I was snapping at you or anything

Nah, you weren't snapping. I just didn't think it through being that late at night and all.

[lordlundar]

They gave us no counterfeit training.

Then they can't even write you up for it. If they do, You can go to the labour board and file a complaint. If they didn't train you, then they are at fault.

[crazylegs]

Horsetuna,

As has been said before, don't sweat it, most forgeries I've spotted have been whilst sat in a nice cosy office whilst cashing up, no customers hassling me, no huge queue of impatient people tutting and stropping. Unless its been photocopied onto normal paper on one side only I don't think there is anything to worry about.

(I've seen some truly awful copies, including one with all of the following faults
1) Wrong size (Different demonitations are different sizes, the bigger the note the more its worth)
2) Wrong colour, more purple than it should have been
3) No watermark
4) No metal thread, it was written on with silver pen
5) p1ss poor printing, no detail at all
6) On ordinary paper
7) Cut wrong, it wasn't a perfect rectangle, some of the angles were off

So unless it ticks all the above boxes (which I very much doubt) you'll be fine. Word of warning to UK types here, most common counterfeit is a £5 note. Be warned!