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Officials: Counterfeit bills turning up around Walla Walla

By Stephanie Tshappat, Walla Walla Union-Bulletin
Published: January 28, 2016, 9:52am

Area law enforcement is cautioning businesses to be wary of counterfeit bills after several have turned up at local establishments in recent months.

Three counterfeit $20 bills were reportedly received Friday at Kelly’s Bar & Grill, 85409 State Route 11, Milton-Freewater. The establishment reported the bills to the Umatilla County Sheriff’s Office on Monday.

Walla Walla police spokesman Tim Bennett said 16 fake bills of denominations ranging from $5 to $100 have been recovered in the Walla Walla area since November.

“It’s being investigated by our department and the Secret Service gets the reports,” he said.

The majority of the bills were fake $20 bills. The counterfeits were recovered from numerous area businesses, mostly grocery and convenience stores, and fast food establishments.

“(The fake bills have) no hologram and they have the same serial number,” Bennett said.

Bennett recommends people use caution when accepting larger bills, checking for the holograms, or watermarks, to the right of the portraits on larger bills, as well as security strips that should be embedded in authentic bills.

The problem with counterfeit bills is becoming widespread regionally as well.

“There has been a significant increase in people passing counterfeit currency in the past several weeks in the area,” the Kennewick Police Department said in a Tuesday post on its Facebook page.

The post included a surveillance photo of a man who reportedly passed a $10 counterfeit bill Sunday at a gas station in Kennewick, The department is seeking the public’s help in identifying the man.

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