LOMPOC - At least four counterfeit 50 dollar bills have turned up at large and small businesses in Lompoc.
Lompoc Police are warning merchants to be on the lookout for more of the bogus bills.
"A lot of the tell-tale signs are the feel of the money", says Lompoc Police Sgt. Chuck Strange, "if something looks different go ahead and give us a call."
It's not just the quality of the paper or the ink that's used, Police say you need only to hold the bill up to the light to see a U.S. Treasury watermark of the president's image on the far left side of the bill to know that it's the real thing.
"Sometimes you will see the wrong seal on the wrong denomination,", Sgt. Strange says, "we've even had incidents that the wrong president has been on the wrong denominations."
While counterfeiting is not a common crime, Police say it's an indication of desperate times calling for desperate measures
"You know with the advent of the high-tech printers, they can get a pretty good quality counterfeit sometimes", Strange says, "they will try to age the paper to make it feel more realistic."
Police say if you happen to have a counterfeit bill in your possession don't assume you're automatically in trouble just be sure to call 911 and report it.
"That's so true", Strange says about bogus bills winding up in the hands of innocent people, "it's up to us and Secret Service to kind of backtrack from there to try and prove otherwise."
At least two people have been arrested so far in connection with the counterfeit bills in Lompoc.
