Fair officials not laughing over funny money

Danette Goulet

FAIRGROUNDS -- The price of fun apparently is too much for someone who

has allegedly passed $1,500 in counterfeit $100 bills at the Orange

County Fair, according to federal agents.

Employees became suspicious last weekend when five bills were

discovered with the same serial number, said fair manager Becky

Bailey-Findley.

“It’s pretty easy to see when you have them all lined up, unlike out

there where you’d only see one at a time,” she said.

Fair administrators called the Secret Service after the five bogus

bills were found, but were told to keep it quiet and see if any more

popped up.

“The strategy was to see if we get any more, and we did last night, so

she called them again,” Bailey-Findley said.

Ten more counterfeit bills were passed last night, mostly at the fair

box office and at Ray Carmack Shows Carnival.

“Counterfeiting in the area is common, and they do go to places like

fairs. It’s easier to pass the money there,” said Special Agent Jason

Warren, based at the Secret Service Office in Santa Ana. “This is

definitely not a first for us.”

This is also not the first time they have been out to the Orange

County Fair, Warren said.

“This is the first time this year,” he said. “We have been out there

before in prior years.”

Now the plan is to alert and educate all staff, vendors and

exhibitors, and anyone who takes money, how to detect a counterfeit bill.

The Secret Service outlined how to determine if a bill is genuine:

* A watermark identical to the portrait on the front of the bill is

visible from both sides when held up to a light.

* On the front of the $100 bill “USA 100” is microprinted within the

number in the lower left corner and “The United States of America”

appears on Benjamin Franklin’s lapel.

* On genuine currency, a clear, inscribed polyester thread has been

incorporated into the paper. On the $100, the security thread is embedded

vertically to the left of the portrait.

* An additional letter has been added to the front serial number on

genuine currency. The combination of 11 numbers and letters appears twice

on the front of the note. Notes of the 1996b series begin with the letter

A and the 1999 series begins with the letter B.

* Counterfeit notes generated by computers have black ink, blue and

yellow dots on both sides of the note scattered throughout.

* Danette Goulet covers education. She may be reached at (949)

574-4221 or by e-mail at [email protected].