A statewide crime alert has been issued over an apparent counterfeiting ring that’s making its way through the state.
Brown County Sheriff’s detective Roman Aronstein says the group of criminals has been passing extremely well made fake 100 dollar bills that even have a security thread inside.
“What they’ll do as though I use chemicals to remove the ink off of that currency and then they will print a different, higher level denomination bill to that such as a $100 bill. When you are looking at the security thread don’t just look for the thread itself. When held up to the lights the thread will reveal the actual denomination that the bill should be.”
Aronstein says the fakes are extremely sophisticated, and will pass most basic checks against phony bills including testing markers.“There’s absolutely no shame in missing one of these. These individuals travel the state and frequently the country and they’re good at what they do. It’s okay for you to miss some of the signs.”
So far the bills have mostly been passed in big box stores like Walmart, where the crooks prefer to buy small gift cards in order to get as much change as possible.
If anyone has information concerning this case, please call the Brown County Sheriff’s Office at 920-448-4230.
