By Gary Meyer

Phony hundred dollar notes circulating in Frazier Park over the past week have some business owners amazed at how difficult it can be to know the phony ones from the real ones.

Antelope Valley Bank Branch Manager Kelli Strahl showed several counterfeit $100 bills to The Mountain Enterprise on Monday, Dec. 29 and showed newspaper staff members how to recognize the funny money. See the checklist for tips on seeing the difference.

But there was nothing funny about what happened to Brenda Smith, owner of Tecuya Feed in Frazier Park, when she made her bank deposit on Tuesday, Dec. 23 and was told that a $100 bill she handed the bank teller was fake. Even less funny was that the counterfeit bill was confiscated and sent to the United States Secret Service.

Smith was out a hundred bucks—money she is not likely to get back.

She remembers when a man came into her store on Monday, Dec. 22 to buy only a small bag of feed for about five dollars. “Don’t you have anything smaller?” Smith said she asked him when he presented the hundred dollar bill.

“No, I’m sorry, I don’t,” said the man.

“They always come in to buy only a few dollars worth and they get all that cash in change,” Smith told The Mountain Enterprise on Monday, Dec. 29. A second counterfeit hundred dollar bill was collected from Ace Hardware and a third in the same week was relinquished by an individual.

Bank Manager Strahl said they have had to confiscate about five counterfeit bills in the past month. According to Strahl, currency delivered to the bank is thoroughly checked prior to delivery by the bank’s cash vault services company.

The bank does not report such incidents to the Sheriff’s Department, so anyone who believes they may have been the victim of a crime should report it to the Kern County Sheriff’s substation at (661) 245-3440.

Frazier Park residents are asked to contact the United States Secret Service at (213) 533-4775. Callers will be helped to check whether their bill is real or counterfeit by confirming the combinations of serial numbers and mint date.

Also, visit the Secret Service website for a guide to counterfeit currency, at www.secretservice.gov/money_detect.shtml.

This is part of the January 02, 2009 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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