CREDIT: BANKOFCANADA.CA

Bills, people. Check your bills.

An incident at the Oasis has catering operations manager Ryan McTavish cautioning people to check their wallets for counterfeits.

“There was one that got through in one of our deposits and the bank informed us that we did have a counterfeit,” he said. “I let the staff know that this had happened and refreshed them on the practices on checking the bills.”

“After that, we did receive two more that the cashiers caught and didn't accept. [They] were given to security.”

McTavish said the individuals carrying the counterfeits were unaware they were fake.

“We put up notices up on all the cash registers, just to inform consumers that this is going around, to check their wallets because they may have it and not even know about it.”

According to Fanshawe's special constables who met with McTavish following the situation, this is supposedly an Ontario-wide problem spanning from Chatham to Montreal and “everywhere in between.”

Cashiers at the Oasis caught two bills that struck them as a little odd.

“The paper of the bill wasn't the same as paper money,” explained McTavish. “The cashiers do this all day, so they're used to the feel of the bill. When they accepted it, they could feel there was something wrong with it. Upon further investigation, the other signs didn't match up.”

Special Constable Brent Arseneault urged anyone on campus to inform special constables if a bill looks suspicious.

“There's no doubt there's different vulnerabilities,” he said. “There's new laser printers out there, there's other devices that people can reproduce stuff [with], but you have to protect yourself as a consumer.”

Campus police are trained to ask the right questions to jog a victim's memory.

“Through investigation we'll try to help you remember where you've acquired [the counterfeit] or where you've last been,” said Arseneault. “We certainly are in a position where we want to hold people accountable for their actions and as a result, we want to prevent whoever did it [from doing it to] other people.”

“You're not going to be charged or penalized if you present something to us.”

The fact remains: counterfeits affect businesses.

“If you don't detect it and you actually accept it, it becomes your bill. It's your problem to have,” said McTavish. “It's a loss to you, so you're better off to train your staff to not accept the bills ... They are out there.”

“I would ask that everybody check their wallets and find out the tips to see if your money is real, because you might have it in your pocket and not even know.”