Counterfeit bills resurfacing in Austin

Published 3:59 pm Friday, February 17, 2012

Another string of counterfeit bills is floating around Austin.

The Austin Area Chamber of Commerce sent an email out on Friday afternoon, alerting the community and businesses that several $20 bills were discovered at local stores.

Of the four $20 bills found on Friday, each had one of two serial numbers: IA49588024C or IF77643033F.

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The bills are slightly smaller than a genuine bill and the texture of the paper is slightly different, according to the Chamber. The bills are printed on poor-quality paper. The texture is smooth and feels more like typing paper than the safety paper used for currency.

An employee from Steve’s Pizza also mentioned the restaurant received a counterfeit $50 bill on Friday, and Cheers Liquor also recently reported a customer who tried to pass a counterfeit $100 bill. The employee at Cheers denied the customer and gave the bill back to him, according to Police Chief Brian Krueger. The employee notified authorities and mentioned the customer is a Hispanic male, 5-foot-7, weighs about 165 and has a tattoo on the right side of his head. Authorities were not immediately available to comment if Friday’s influx of counterfeit bills are related to past incidents.