I am pissed off here but I am letting everyone know of a really dumb guy.  This guy gave me a photo of him through his phone and talked about his high school. This guy also gave me 13 counterfeit $20 bills and touched each one of them before putting them down. I only touch one of them before realizing they were counterfeit. The rest have his prints all over them and the envelope.

Now imagine what happens when I stick the entire batch in a plastic bag and send it to the FBI via my police friends.....I do have relatives in another state in the police force and I do have an ex-boyfriend who is a cop.  

As of right now, I have already inherited a home via my mom's death and my monthly bills are less than 1300. I do believe this dumb guy is a bigger fish as the Secret Service does get involved on counterfeit money and I do have a clean record.

Some guys are dumb enough to throw their lives away. On the other hand, if I start getting too much harrassment, I can always tour under a different name.

I say principal rules in any case. If someone is wrong they should be held accountable. Use your connections and get the guy.

There's nothing worse than having spent time with someone, shared a couple of cocktails and then realized the bills were useless just as you were in line to spend one of them. Some charmers out in the world aren't there? : )

contrary to what we've seen in the movies and on Tv, paper does NOT hold fingerprints very well.

And if this fellow has no record and has never been printed, where are you?

And even if he did, isn't it his word against yours?  And you might not want to expalin how he came to give these bills to you?

Why would he harass you?  He scammed you, do you think he's going to return to the scene of the crime?

He richly deserves having his life turned into a hell.  

You probably don't have his prints, depending on how well that ink and paper holds them.  However, you have a picture of the guy.  His high school story was probably bogus. If that bogus money has circulated anywhere else (presumably he didn't manufacture it himself) the FBI and Secret Service is going to be really interested in finding him.  

However, you should probably consult a lawyer before this and weigh your possible exposure to LE against your satisfaction at nailing him.  Just remember, different agencies of LE don't talk to each other very well.  That's how 9/11 happened.  The feds aren't likely to tell local LE, and local LE is not likely to pay attention if they do.

So many people would avoid a scandal or timely pursuit of someone like this, and so many of these guys get away with it because of these trends. I say, "Go for it, if you want, and help nab the bas__ard!  

Hugs,
Ciara

yeah but Ip addresses work well since he wrote me 7 times and his cell phone isn't a prepaid one or it might be

can prepaid cell phones take text messages and incoming calls for a month

YOU MAY WANT TO CONSIDER THAT HE MIGHT BE UNAWARE THAT THEY'RE BOGUS BILLS-A VICTIM OF SOMEONE ELSE

If they raid his house and place of biz and find the plates...that's all they need.

-Hoot.

you can print off a regular printer if you have a good enough printer or scanner

the bills weren't engraved but they looked identical to real bills before touching them

providers have social duties too, and I seriously doubt that the Treasury Dept is going to be worried about escorting next to counterfeiting.

You aren't the only person he's passed bills to, and he's burning all of us.  

Talk to your cop friends and maybe a lawyer about how to handle it so it minimizes your exposure, but it's important that they get DIRECTLY in the hands of the FBI together with everything you know about him.

before doing the acts. The guy has scammed you, there is nothing that you can do about him without generating questions about your activities in getting into the situation. Count the experience as a lesson and move on.

I saw the money, I just didn't touch it

he quietly counted it from his wallet and stuffed it in an envelope and handed it over w/o saying a word

standing beside him, it looked real but it didn't feel engraved from a printing plate but done with newspaper paper and high quality ink

Before you read the rest of this consider this point of safety. Counterfeiter’s are not generally affiliated with the Boy Scouts. For safety’s sake I’d caution you to think about who you might meet with if you blew the whistle.

But for now, let's assume that this guy really did knowingly pass phony currency. I’d like to know why do you say that? What proof do you have? This is important. Were these obvious fakes (printed on a home inkjet)?

The reason I point this out is that if you turn over the other 12 bills - presumably you'd not send them the bill you touched - how can you be certain, or more the point, how can you prove that he wasn't a victim too?

Why is this important? Because even if you have LE friends, remember that the Secret Service will want to talk to them too. So think of the poor cop from DC or any other city or town who does you a favor and then the next thing you know, he is being called in for a "chat" in his Captain's office regarding an "anonymous" tip that they mysteriously traced back to him.

My point being is that if this is a true fake bill, the Secret Service will not want to make a case against a citizen unless they are either a big fish or unless the case can be proven with a minimum of effort. Remember, the Special Agents are accountable for the cost of an arrest. If they arrest someone who is not convictable, well.... they take a personal credibility hit. Based on the evidence you have, it would be hard to convict such a person. Yes, it is a crime to pass phony currency but juries only convict the counterfeiter’s themselves. As of right now, all you have is someone who passed a bad bill not someone who created it. The Government is more interested in the guy who minted the bill rather than the guy who used the bill.

Just my $0.02. And it's that’s counterfeit – it’s too expensive to counterfeit coins.

-- Modified on 1/8/2006 6:53:32 PM

courts won't have to worry about him
He will think twice of passing them though esp. after seeing my fist

I have many comments regarding most of the posts on this issue so I am condensing them all here.

First - the FBI doesn't investigate counterfeiting, the Secret Service does.

Second - Reporting this matter doesn't mean there is an instant arrest. If he eventually does get arrested, you will probably never hear about it.

Third - The cost of investigation is no issue when the federal government is concerned.

Fourth - This incident would never get prosecuted and here's why.  The crime of counterfeiting took place during the crime of prostitution.  No Federal Prosecutor is going to bring this incident before a judge or Grand Jury and no agent is going to take the case to the prosecutor.

What will happen is that LE will take all the information she gives them about this guy and then conduct a completely independent investigation with the goal of arresting the man under different circumstances... like passing bills to a legitimate business or perhaps having an undercover agent offering to purchase fake bills.  There are all sorts of angles to go in trying to pick this guy off.  The cost is minimal, its what the agents do every day.

As far as fingerprints... paper is one of the best sources for prints.  Oils in the skin transfered to another surface is what leaves the fingerprint pattern visible.  Paper absorbs oils better than most materials thus making the print durable.  You can't wipe prints off paper the same way you could off of metal or glass.

the guy took down all info I had and tried to help me remember info that wouldn't incriminate me too.

He wanted to know if this guy had an ip address but wasn't interested in my emails.....he wanted to know if this guy worked for the government or had an indoor job --(his hands where extremely smooth like someone who did paperwork...they were nicer than mine)

He even let me have paperwork that taught me the difference between real and fake. He was even careful in how he worded my hobby. We talked like I was an entertainer.