HUNTINGTON COUNTY, Ind. (www.incnow.tv) – A Fort Wayne couple was arrested in Huntington County Tuesday after police say the two used counterfeit $100 bills several times at multiple retail shops in the county.

Arrested were David Contrell Paige Hill and Shawn Strader. Both are currently in the Huntington County Jail on fraud charges.

The two were picked up by Huntington County sheriff’s deputies after an all points bulletin was sent by the Huntington Police Department in search of the wanted suspects.

Hill and Strader passed fake $100 bills at the Hallmark and Dollar General stores in the 2000 block of North Jefferson Street.

Stoffel says the use of counterfeit bills has increased as laser printer technology has increased. He says the holiday season rush also adds to the growing volume of counterfeit cases.

“In this busy shopping season, the retailers are a lot of times hurried and pushed and are reluctant to do some of the things that they need to do to keep themselves safe and not expecting those kinds of bills, so it’s a little easier this time of the year with Christmas coming,” Stoffel says.

Stoffel says people working cash registers, regardless of how busy the store might be, need to check every high value bill with the brown marker given to them.

“It just depends on how busy the store is. I mean when retailers and cashiers get in a hurry like that, they forget to do the things that they’ve been trained to do,” he says.

Stoffel says customers should pay attention to the bills they receive from the stores as well. If a customer is given a counterfeit bill, he or she is instructed to call local police and alert the store.

Stoffel also says anyone can check the legitimacy of a bill by testing its texture, color design, whether the portrait appears lifelike, marks that can be seen by holding the bill against the light and the design of serial numbers.

For more information as to how a counterfeit bill can be checked, click “Know Your Money” in the related links section
.