Bank warns of counterfeit bills

SUNDANCE (WNE) — With an unknown number of counterfeit one hundred dollar bills believed to now be in circulation after an incident in Billings, MT, last week, Andy Miller, President of Sundance State Bank, is warning businesses and citizens that some could make it through to Crook County.

“I don’t know how much trickle will make it through to our area, but there’s certainly potential,” he says. “Be aware when you take a $100 bill from somebody to make sure it feels right, make sure it looks right, make sure the security features are there and just be cautious because they could be floating around in our area.”

The bank received an alert for the counterfeit bills late last week.

“There was a large number of counterfeit bills up in Billings that it sounds like were dumped out on a street up there,” he says.

According to local reports, thousands of dollars in $100 bills were found on the street in Billings on January 24 and passers-by were scrambling to collect them.

At this time, no suspect or motive has been identified.

It is also not known how many bills were created and what percentage of them have been recovered.

The bills reportedly look real. Fortunately, there is a clear sign to watch out for that the bill you are handling is among this batch of counterfeits:

“They were all the same serial number,” says Miller.

The serial number to watch out for is LF1139129C. In addition, he says, while the bills did look like the real thing,

“The other telltale sign is the feel of the bill was not right – it didn’t feel like a typical bill.” According to local reports, the bills also lack a watermark and the blue line is incorrect.