Do You Have This Fake Money In Your Wallet?

With the advent of credit cards and debit cards most of us don't use cash all that often anymore. If you do use cash, the U.S. Secret Service says you need to keep a lookout for fake money.

Secret Service officials said that they are seeing a significant rise in counterfeit money circulating in the El Paso area, but they didn't give any reason why there was a sudden jump in counterfeiting activity. Counterfeit money is always around but the last time officials issued a warning for the El Paso area was in December 2017 when there was a sudden increase in counterfeit money in the area.

The bills you should be on the lookout for are some of the most common ones that are used in everyday transactions. They include the $100, $50, and $20 bills. Apparently some the fake money has been used on movie sets, but there is no word on why it is suddenly showing up in the El Paso area.

Here are the things you need to look for in fake money:

The front of the bills have foreign writing such as Chinese or Russian.
The fake bills also don't show a security thread when held up to the light.
The bills say "for motion picture use only" or "replica" on them.

Check out the cash in your wallet and if it turns out you have some you need to call the El Paso police department at 915-832-4400, or you can anonymously report someone making or trying to pass counterfeit money by calling Crime Stoppers at 915-566-TIPS.

You can also go to Crime Stoppers website to make sure you money is authentic and not fake. Click here for the website.