Police report counterfeit currency being passed in Rochester

ROCHESTER -Rochester Police are urging the public to be aware of a raft of counterfeit U.S. currency being passed in the city.

It began on Wednesday with a number of phony $10 bills being discovered.

Then on Thursday a bogus $20 bill was passed.

The pictures in this report are of the actual bill.

These cases are being investigated and anyone having information regarding these counterfeits is asked to contact the Rochester Police Department.

When handling currency the following suggestions are offered.

1. Feel the bill.You've almost assuredly handled enough money over your lifetime to tell when a note doesn't feel like the real thing.
2. Examine the bill in good lighting.Look for the color-shift ink, security strip and watermark--all difficult or impossible to duplicate. Examine the quality of the printing, looking for smudges, blurs and broken borders. Look for the colored fibers in the paper.
3. Check a stack of bills for problems,such as duplicate serial numbers or numbers that don't match from the front to the back of the bill.
4. Be especially suspicious of older bills. For example, pre-1996 designs and bills of larger denominations. Nearly all the pre-1996 money that is actually legitimate has been taken out of circulation and destroyed already.

For more info go to https://uscurrency.gov/