Batavia Check Your $100 Bills, They Could Be Fake

There is a lot of money changing hands these days...and sometimes it gets passed pretty quickly.  But you might want to check to make sure it's real this year.

Police in Batavia are warning people that some of the bills they are seeing are fake.

According to WIVB...here are some tips to make sure that the bills you have are real:

• Color Shifting Ink: The bill denomination on the bottom right-hand corner has the right color-shifting ink.
• Raised Printing: To detect raised printing, take your fingernail and run it carefully down the collar/jacket. You should feel some vibration on your nail from the ridges.
• Blurry Borders/printing/text: Significantly blurry borders, printing, or text, it is an automatic red flag.
• Red & Blue Threads: If you take a close look at an authentic bill, you will see that there are small red and blue threads woven in and out within the fabric of the bill.
• Watermark: In many of the new bills, the watermark is actually a replica of the face on the bill.

If you find that you may have come in contact with a counterfeit bill, Batavia police are asking you to call them at (585) 345-6350.

What else should you do if you think you've received a fake bill from someone?  According to tips from The National Credit Union Administration and the U.S. Department of the Treasury, you should:

• Do not return the counterfeit bill to the person who gave it to you.
• Observe what the person looks like and who they’re with, and try to record the license plate numbers of any vehicles they are using.
• Contact your local police department or a field office of the U.S. Secret Service to report the incident.
• Write your initials and the date on the white edge of the suspect bill.
• Put the bill in something that will protect it, like an envelope or plastic bag.
• Give the note to an officer at your local police station or a Secret Service officer, or mail it to your local Secret Service office.