SMALL-TIME VENDORS PREPARE FOR COUNTERFEITS

The other day, I bought a book on Native American women healers, a Three Stooges DVD and a scarf at the "Changing Hands Rummage Sale" at Unity Church on Prince Street. My purchases cost $6. I paid with a 20 dollar bill.

I was surprised when David Mercer, who was manning the metal cash box, pulled out a counterfeit detection pen to make sure my money was real.

I had never seen such high security at a rummage sale. Mercer said that you can never be too careful. "In my mind, that's an easy place to pass counterfeit money," he said. "Somebody can buy two or three dollars worth of stuff with a fake $20 and they've made $18 on the transaction, plus the knick knacks."

Turns out, numerous news reports from across the country describe people using counterfeit money at next-to-new sales. In one particularly sad example in Spokane, a counterfeit $100 was used earlier this summer at a sale that was raising money to help a woman pay for cancer treatment. Unity Church was trying to raise money to pay for a new boiler. "I didn't want to see our church get hit," said Mercer, who has been a member of the church for decades

To read the complete article, see:
Erica Bryant: On the lookout for counterfeit money (https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2017/09/01/erica-bryant-lookout-counterfeit-money/624638001/)

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