Bogus bills in Millerton

MILLERTON — Several counterfeit $100 bills were spent in various Dutchess County businesses last week. 

Oblong Books & Music, Taro’s Pizza, The Moviehouse and Irving Farm Coffee Roasters were all targets of the scam in Millerton alone. 

Carissa Unite, manager of Oblong Jr., recalled the incident clearly, since so few customers pay with large bills. 

She recalled a female, probably in her mid 20s, who claimed that she was in a big rush, because her son was waiting in the car outside. 

“People rush in here for their kids all the time,” Unite said. “It didn’t seem unfathomable.” 

It struck her as odd, however, that someone would complete a purchase totaling less than $10 with a $100 bill. Since she didn’t have a Dri-Mark pen to test the money, she accepted the bill. 

It turns out that even if Unite was equipped with the Dri-Mark pen, it would have been useless. 

Salisbury Bank and Trust received three counterfeit bills in its nighttime deposit box, but they all passed the pen test. Management was only tipped off when an experienced teller detected that the bills were stiffer than normal and had a sticky texture.

The sticky residue may have been hairspray, which criminals can use to counteract the chemical reaction that Dri-Mark pens rely on to detect counterfeit money. 

Dri-Mark pens work when their main ingredient, iodine, interacts with the starch in most normal currency paper. This turns the pen’s yellow ink to a dark brown. Legitimate bills are made on paper without starch, so the chemical reaction never happens and the ink remains yellow. Hairspray blocks this reaction, making counterfeit paper appear real. 

Fortunately, it leaves behind a sticky residue than can alert cashiers to the problem. 

Newer $100 bills have a distinct 3D blue security stripe, which is hard for criminals to replicate, but the bills used in this scheme imitated the older style bills. For other current security features, go to www.newmoney.gov. 

Unite said she was upset about the incident, but said that it “won’t change my interactions with customers. This is a pretty tight-knit community.”

In total, two bills were spent at Oblong Books & Music, one was spent at Taro’s, one was spent at The Moviehouse and one was spent at Irving Farms. All purchases were small in value. 

A worker from Irving Farms Coffee Roasters recalled that the woman was probably about 5’2”.  No local merchants recalled having seen her before. 

The Moviehouse, meanwhile, was dealt one of the $100 bills. It was the same story as the others: the bill felt different, it passed the pen test and Salisbury Bank caught it. All bills have since been shipped off by the bank to the Secret Service. 

Detectives Adam Harris and Gerard Pfitcher of the Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office have recovered 10 bills so far, not including those found in Millerton. The first case occurred in Pawling on Saturday, Nov. 14, around 3 p.m. There have also been incidents in LaGrange and Beekman. 

The detectives said that the bills were Dri-Mark tested and they passed the test, except for in a few areas where the hairspray residue failed to bond with the paper. 

The Sheriff’s Office issued a press release on Wednesday.

“Be observant and take notice of the passer’s physical qualities, vehicle description and license plate number. All of these can be helpful to law enforcement.” 

Any citizens who have information, or have been victims, are asked to call Det. Harris or Det. Pfitcher at 845-486-3820.