Counterfeit Bills Passed By Couple

Secret Service agents are asking for the public’s help in locating a middle-aged man and woman suspected of passing counterfeit $100 and $50 bills in the Spokane area.

At least 20 of the bogus bills have been used at area businesses and more are expected to turn up, said Neil Goodman of the Secret Service’s Spokane office.

“They’re good-quality bills,” Goodman said of the notes passed in Spokane since Thanksgiving.

When special pens are used on the notes to see if they’re counterfeit, the writing doesn’t change color - a telltale sign the bills are phony, Goodman said.

The notes, which appear to have been printed on an offset press, include printing marks intended to resemble a vertical polyester thread put in genuine $50s and $100s, Goodman said.

Similar bills first appeared in early November in Portland, the Secret Service official said.

In some instances, a white man between the ages of 50 and 70 enters a business and makes a small purchase with a $100 bill.

No further description of the man is available.

He is followed by a white female in her 40s who makes a similar small purchase with a $50 bill. She wears glasses and has blondish-gray hair, tapered at the neck.

“We’re hoping someone may have seen these people at a motel, a car-rental agency or somewhere else, and can provide us with further leads,” Goodman said.

Anyone seeing the couple passing the bills should call 911. Goodman said other potential leads can be left with the Secret Service at 353-2532.

, DataTimes