{"id":17480,"date":"2026-06-07T08:48:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-07T15:48:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/?p=17480"},"modified":"2026-06-07T08:48:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-07T15:48:08","slug":"fake-100-bills-making-the-rounds-in-wyoming-counterfeit-pens-dont-detect-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/2026\/06\/07\/fake-100-bills-making-the-rounds-in-wyoming-counterfeit-pens-dont-detect-them\/","title":{"rendered":"Fake $100 Bills Making The Rounds In Wyoming, Counterfeit Pens Don’t Detect Them"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I worked for Brinks Armored back in the late nineties, and we had a deposit processing portion of the business for small banks and their business customers, mostly fast food. The deposits were processed and sent to the fed to later be processed and sent back out as currency orders. A girl was out on disability and I got pulled into the room for a few weeks, and we constantly found counterfeit bills, which we would document and put in a stack, that when large enough was shipped to the Secret Service. And money counters and scanners can detect these bills pretty quickly, and they never tell you the many anti-counterfeit measures built into money, like the ribbon, micro-print, watermark…<\/a> Consequently, I thought a lot of the terrible counterfeit bills I saw had to be employees who either accepted it or swapped it out… And probably most of it was never investigated unless it was part of a larger pattern, and businesses didn’t get credit for the bills, taking a loss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/cowboystatedaily.com\/2026\/06\/06\/fake-100-bills-making-the-rounds-in-wyoming-from-cheyenne-to-riverton\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n

<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n
Counterfeit $100 bills are getting passed throughout Wyoming and store clerks say iodine counterfeit detector pens won’t detect the fake bills. \u201cThe counterfeit pens are garbage,\u201d said one store manager<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

By Ren\u00e9e Jean<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CHEYENNE \u2014 Patricia Miller was helping another customer when a smooth-talking gentleman came in and quickly grabbed some crystals that he said were a gift for his mom. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe was trying to small talk with me about how wonderful of a person he was, because he\u2019s getting them for her,\u201d Miller told Cowboy State Daily. \u201cAnd he\u2019s going to print out information about each one of them, and all this other stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Miller thought that was sweet and said so, but what happened next was anything but sweet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe handed me this $100 bill, and I could feel that something was different,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd I was looking at it, and I\u2019m like, \u2018Well, maybe it\u2019s old?’\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That prompted the man to helpfully add that the bill was from 1996.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s when things clicked for Miller.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLike, who knows what year the bill is that you\u2019re handing a cashier?\u201d she said. \u201cSo that\u2019s what really triggered my mind to be like, \u2018Oh my gosh, this is counterfeit.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not wanting to falsely accuse the man \u2014 or ignite a confrontation \u2014 Miller took a different tack. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI said to him, \u2018I\u201dm sorry, but I don\u2019t have change for this. You\u2019re going to have to maybe get change and come back. Do you have anything smaller?\u2019” Miller said. \u201cAnd he said, \u2018No, I\u2019ll go to Bomgaars and get change.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The man never returned for his items. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Later, looking at the store\u2019s video surveillance, Miller saw the man had several recognizable bags with him. When she visited those other stores, it confirmed her suspicion that the $100 bill had been fake. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The same man with the same story and multiple copies of the same $100 bill, all sharing the same serial number, had hit all of the stores.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
A photograph of a counterfeit 10 bill someone tried to pass off as real at Twinkle, Twinkle Little Store in Cheyenne. (Courtesy Twinkle, Twinkle Little Store)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Same Serial Number All Over Town<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Miller\u2019s social media post about the experience drew jeers from some skeptical online commenters who accused her of overreacting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

She posted the bill so others would know what was happening, to prevent anyone from getting duped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A manager at a discount store on South Greeley Highway in Cheyenne, who asked that her store not be named for corporate reasons, confirmed she\u2019d encountered both the same man and the same $100 bill as Miller. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The man came to the store on South Greeley between the hours of 3:30 and 4 p.m., she said, trying to buy some baby wipes and a gallon jug of water with the $100 \u2014 a classic, small-purchase, big-change tactic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cashier felt something was off with the bill, but couldn\u2019t identify what. She used a traditional counterfeit detector pen. If the iodine ink, which reacts with starches in standard, wood-pulp paper, remains black, that\u2019s supposed to indicate that a bill is real. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the manager has learned a different trick to identify counterfeits lately. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI swabbed it with rubbing alcohol, and the ink smudged,\u201d she said. \u201cSo I told him it was fake and we were not going to accept it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the cashier told the man the bill was fake, he said, \u201cKeep it,\u201d and walked out, by then visibly trying to hide his face from the camera.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat confirms to me that it was fake,\u201d the manager said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bill has been turned over to Laramie County Sheriff\u2019s Office for further investigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bleached Bills Fool Counterfeit Pens<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The discount store manager said counterfeiters have come up with a smart strategy to fool the traditional iodine counterfeit detector pens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What they do is bleach a $1 bill, and then print a $100 bill over the top of it. Because it\u2019s genuine currency paper, the iodine pens won\u2019t catch that the bill is fake. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe counterfeit pens are garbage,\u201d the manager said. \u201cYou can write on that and it won\u2019t catch it because it is in fact money paper, just not the right denomination.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She prefers that her employees use rubbing alcohol to test the ink. If it smudges, that\u2019s a huge red flag.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She also has them hold the bill up to the light, to look for water marks and other security features that $100 bills have that $1 bills do not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The last check is the texture of the bill itself, which is slightly changed by the bleaching process. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen we held it up, it did not have a water mark in it,\u201d she said. \u201cIt did not have a face in it, and I felt no texture on the bill itself.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Twinkle
(Courtesy Twinkle, Twinkle Little Store)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A Prop Money In Riverton<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In Riverton, meanwhile, funny money has taken a slightly different tack, with Hollywood-style prop bills circulating around town.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Blossoms and Boba Cafe, owner Jesica Fritz told Cowboy State Daily a group of children roughly ages 10-13 came in for a shopping spree with what they thought was a genuine $100 bill, given to them by a friendly stranger who had encouraged them to spend all of the money in one place. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne of the girls who works for us thought it was real at first,\u201d Fritz said. \u201cIt did look very realistic, unless you read it and looked closely at it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The other girl, my daughter, was like, \u2018No, absolutely this is not real. Look, it doesn\u2019t even say, \u2018In God we trust.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead the bill said, \u201cIn Prop we Trust,\u201d and elsewhere, in tiny fine print, it identified the money as a film prop, not for legal tender.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fritz said her cafe does use counterfeit detection pens and also trains staff to hold bills up to make sure the paper shimmers correctly, and to look closely at fine print and seals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re slammed and super busy and someone just hands one of these to you, I can totally understand why some people would take it as regular money,\u201d she said. \u201cIt looks very realistic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The children had already paid for their Boba teas before trying to use the fake $100 for extra items. When told the bill wasn\u2019t real, they were crestfallen, but cooperative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe kids legitimately believed they had real money, and were super stoked about it,\u201d Fritz said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Patricia
Patricia Miller, with her husband Tim, unpacked new merchandise at the Twinkle, Twinkle Little Store at the Frontier Mall. Patricia recently had a customer try to pass of a counterfeit $100 bill. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Staying Ahead Of Funny Money<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Fritz turned the bill over to the Riverton Police Department. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The department did not return Cowboy State Daily\u2019s request for comment, but Fritz said they told her that several other businesses in town had also seen prop money circulating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cheyenne police, meanwhile, said it has seven reports of counterfeit bills being passed around at local businesses so far this year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe counterfeit bills we encounter the most are $20 and $100 denominations,\u201d said department spokeswoman Alexandra Farkas. \u201cMany of the fake $100 bills are novelty bills intended for film production and are marked with the phrase, \u2018For Motion Picture Purposes.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That can be easy to overlook during a busy transaction, Farkas acknowledged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf counterfeit currency is seized and is not associated with an active local investigation, our Property and Evidence Division will send it to the U.S. Secret Service for further investigation,\u201d she said. \u201cFor more information about identifying counterfeit bills, the Secret Service offers educational resources online at www.secretservice.gov<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By policy, businesses are supposed to try to retain suspicious bills and turn them over to police. But both Miller and the discount store manager admitted they considered their own personal safety first and foremost. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I worked for Brinks Armored back in the late nineties, and we had a deposit processing portion of the business for small banks and their business customers, mostly fast food. The deposits were processed and sent to the fed to later be processed and sent back out as currency orders. A girl was out on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-wyoming"],"blocksy_meta":[],"featured_image_src":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Jason","author_link":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/author\/jturning\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17480","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17480"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17480\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17481,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17480\/revisions\/17481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}