A Coral Springs business owner is warning others to be on the lookout for counterfeit $100 bills after a woman successfully passed two fake C-notes at her shop.
Babe Caruso, owner of 3Natives at 1213 N. University Dr. in Ramblewood Square, said the same unidentified fraudster successfully paid with fake hundreds at the healthy fast-casual spot on two occasions: once several weeks ago and again on Jan. 2.
Two days later, on Jan. 4., store workers detected another fake $100 bill, and the woman fled.
“She walks in with her phone and just a $100 bill,” Caruso, who opened her business last year, told Coral Springs Talk. “Her play is, she orders a smoothie for $9. After she gets the change, she leaves and never picks up the smoothie.”
The first time the woman conned the store, she ordered a smoothie and paid with a crisp $100 bill.
The cash was later found to be counterfeit – likely made with a high-end printer – but store staffers did not recall which customer passed the bill. The woman was given $90 in cash as her change and left without her smoothie.
Caruso said she was depositing the store’s earnings at her bank when branch staff told her the $100 bill was a fake.
On Jan. 2, the woman returned to 3Natives and ordered a Blue Crush smoothie for $9, Caruso said.
She paid with another fake $100. Again, she got away with $90 and left without her order. Caruso said the bill she passed to the store that day looked more authentic, except for the words “Motion Picture Purposes” printed in the top left corner and right side.
“If you were just glancing at it, you’d think it was real.”
Two days later, on Jan. 4, the fraudster came back and tried to purchase a Pink Dragon smoothie using another fake hundred. This time, store workers carefully checked the bill and detected the fake.
“The staff was on high alert, and they immediately rejected her,” Caruso said.
Thwarted, the culprit left and has not repeated her scam in the days since.
Counterfeit bill cases reported to police departments often go unsolved, and Caruso said she has not reported the incidents to law enforcement.
She said a smoke and vape shop in Ramblewood Square had also been victimized by one or more fraudsters passing counterfeit $100 bills.
Alleged suspect in counterfeit crime. {3Natives}
It’s not clear whether there is more than one person passing the fake hundreds at local businesses.
Coral Springs Police did not respond to an email seeking comment.
According to the U.S. Currency Education Program, managed by the U.S. Federal Reserve Board, authentic, current $100 notes feature a 3-D Security Ribbon and color-shifting Bell in the Inkwell.
Workers checking hundreds can hold the bill to light and look for an embedded thread running vertically to the left of Benjamin Franklin’s portrait.
The thread, imprinted with the letters USA and the number 100 in an alternating pattern, is visible from both sides of authentic notes. The thread glows pink when illuminated by ultraviolet light.
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