Counterfeit $100 used to pay property tax bill among five discovered in Whitley County

Whitley County Sheriff Colan Harrell is advising area businesses and residents to be extra vigilant after five counterfeit $100 bills have been discovered, one of which was brought into the sheriff’s department as part of a property tax payment.

“We put the pen on there and it stayed the yellowish orange,” Harrell said of the counterfeit bill that was brought into the sheriff’s office. “We made a routine deposit of the tax money on Monday and the bank called us and told about the counterfeit bill.”

Harrell said the bill has all of the correct markings but appears washed out.

Four other bills, two from a store in Goldbug and two others from a store just off of Fifth Street in Corbin, have been reported.

“The feel of the counterfeits is wrong compared to real bills,” Harrell said when asked what set the bills apart.

Harrell said his deputies are in the process of reviewing the tax payments made Friday.

“We can go from there,” Harrell said.

Harrell said when the counterfeit came in bank personnel contacted the U.S. Secret Service.

According to the U.S. Secret Service $100 bills have several security measures including:

• An enlarged and off-center portrait of Ben Franklin without a frame.
• A watermark portrait on the right side of the bill that is visible from either side when held to the light.
• Color-shifting ink that shifts from copper to green as the bill is tilted and a bell in the inkwell.
• A security thread embedded vertically in the paper. The thread is inscribed with the denomination of the bill.
• A blue ribbon woven into the bill. When you tilt the note back and forth, the bells and the “100”s move side to side. When you tilt the note side to side, they move up and down.
• Notes should have a serial number beginning with E, G, I, J or L, depending on the series year of the bill.