A Gorham bank and business have been on the lookout for counterfeit money recently since both received fake bills.
“We’re on guard,” said Christopher Emmons, president and chief executive officer of Gorham Savings Bank. “We’ve got our people on alert.”
At Lampron’s Lil Mart on Ossipee Trail in Gorham, a store clerk spotted two phony bills in separate incidents last month.
“We’re trying to be a lot more cautious,” said Ellie Clemente, assistant store manager at Lampron’s.
The recent circulation of counterfeit bills comes after incidents last summer in both Gorham and Westbrook.
Emmons said the bank has found two bogus bills in business deposits since Sept. 1. But the bank has several branches, and he declined to reveal which one found the counterfeit bills or the denomination of the bills.
However, he said recent counterfeit bills that have been circulated have been smaller ones – $20s, $50s or $100s. Both counterfeit bills the bank discovered were the same denomination and from one of the three denominations he listed.
Lampron’s reported incidents involving counterfeit bills to Gorham police on Aug. 21 and Aug. 29. One was a $20 bill and the other a $10 bill. Both incidents were in the evening.
One customer, who wasn’t recognized as a regular, handed a Lampron’s clerk a $20 along with other bills to pay for gas.
“He had a roll of money,” Clemente said.
The man had just left the store when the clerk discovered the $20 was counterfeit and she dashed outside. Clemente said the clerk stopped the man from leaving and called police. The clerk thought the man was upset about having to wait for police, according to Clemente. The man shelled out $20 in good money, replacing the counterfeit bill.
The other counterfeit incident at the store involved a $10 bill. Clemente said the $10 was crinkled and looked like it had been through wash several times. “The $10 looked like a very old bill,” Clemente said. “It looked real.”
The man that brought the counterfeit $10 into the store is a regular. The same clerk also spotted the $10 bill as a phony. The customer told store employees that he got it as change that morning when he bought coffee at a business in Standish.
The customer asked for the $10 back so he could return it where he was given it. But, Clemente said, the Cumberland County dispatcher had told the clerk to hold the counterfeit money for police. “It went straight to the FBI,” Clemente said.
The man appeared dumbfounded about having had the counterfeit money, but didn’t mind that police were called. “He had no problem waiting for the police,” Clemente said.
Both incidents were recorded on surveillance tape at Lampron’s. The store rewarded the clerk for discovering the counterfeit money.
The store marks bills with a special gold marker and the mark will turn black on a bad bill. On Friday, Debbi Martinson, one of the store employees, demonstrated checking bills with the gold marker in the security room at the store. “These are all good,” said Martinson about bills that included a $100.
In checking for counterfeit money, Clemente said store employees fan out bills and draw a mark on them. Clemente said a counterfeit bill tears like paper, while real money resists tearing.
The store employees also feel the bills as they count money. She said the paper of counterfeit money lacks texture. “You can feel the fibers in a real bill,” Clemente said. “A counterfeit feels more like old paper.”
Emmons said both counterfeit bills discovered by bank personnel were a little smaller than the real money. He is unsure how widespread the passing of counterfeit bills might be. He said it wasn’t a big issue for the bank at the moment. But, “everyone should be alert,” Emmons said.
Gorham police also had a caller from Main Street in the evening of Aug. 16 asking to speak with an officer about possible counterfeit money. In July, two bogus $50 bills surfaced in Gorham.
Capt. Tom Roth of Westbrook Police said Westbrook had three instances over the course of one week in July where they seized counterfeit bills from Shaw’s, McDonalds and Holly’s Gas in Westbrook. The police took the bills as evidence and are working with federal agencies in the investigation. No arrests have been made.
“We have these from time to time, especially after the advent of home computers,” said Roth.
Roth said a lot of stores are using pens on the $50 bills, but the counterfeiters are now making $10s and $20s. Also, several denominations are in circulation now because the government has released new ones. “I think it makes it difficult for people in general in stores,” said Roth.
Roth said Westbrook usually gets about one or two instances a year in which counterfeit bills show up. He said perpetrators will work an area, hit a number of stores and then get out. It’s harder to solve cases where people are just traveling through the area as opposed to when the person is local, he said.
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