stoop sale counterfeit $ scam-- beware

Ba wrote:
To the poster above who received a fake 20 at dry cleaners in the neighborhood, your post was so not irrelevant!!
A friend of mine (lives and works in the neighborhood) recently got a fake $20 from somewhere near by since its basically the only place he spends his money. He's not a stoop sale goer though.
He didn't notice and tried to use it at a bodega that took it away.
On those many times that I pay with bills bigger than a $20 (not so much!), I'll probably check any I get.

vanilla wrote:
if he didn't notice and then spent it and the bill was accepted --- how did your friend come to the conclusion that it was indeed fake?!

he didn't spend it. he tried to use it at a bodega, but they took the bill away from him. guess i should have explained.... took it away = did not accept it. told him it was fake, took it, and he paid with other real money.

ok, simple use of counterfeit bills is probably not a federal crime (that is, i doubt its a strict liability crime), one would probably have to "knowingly" or "intentionally" use the counterfeit bills to be criminal.

interesting then, that many have presumed something "criminal" based on little more than (a) race, and (b) strange behavior (20s for small purchases/ leaving and returning/ returning with a friend).

i guess, i don't find it all that strange that someone would be unsure whether they want your junk, or, that after deciding your junk is interesting that they would invite someone else to check it out, or that they pay in twenty dollar bills.

...probably we shouldn't harass our neighbors (with camera phone pictures? really?). Assuming [any of you] consider this person a neighbor.

i would imagine it appropriate to hold the bill up to the light (right then and there, by the way, so the alleged criminal is right in front of you), but camera phone pictures (and spreading the resulting photos across the internet) seem inappropriate (after all, innocent until...).

blueafro wrote: interesting then, that many have presumed something "criminal" based on little more than (a) race, and (b) strange behavior (20s for small purchases/ leaving and returning/ returning with a friend).

I don't think your factor (a) entered into the whole thing as much as (b), at least to my reading of these posts. if the same thing had happened at a stoop sale I was involved in, I'd definitely be most suspicious of folks who came multiple times, especially if I had multiple bills, which was the case in this situation. I don't think that's drawing a bizarre conclusion - I think that's totally logical. it makes a lot more sense than someone buying $60 worth of stuff with fake money in one go. the whole point of counterfeiting money is to swap it out for real money, not to buy a used microwave.

Did anything else ever happen with this?

With a few big stoop sales going on this weekend -- the 3 block one on Prospect Place, me on Sterling and others -- let's watch out for the fake $

Brooklynian wins!! We beat the bad guys!