The $100 bills that Aspen police feared were fake turned out to be old.
Authorities warned local businesses Wednesday about a wave of “counterfeit” Benjamins, after an unnamed Aspen bank reported about $3,000 worth of funny-looking $100 bill earlier that day.
After the U.S. Secret Service took a look, Aspen police said today “the bills are very likely real.”
Apparently the bills were printed before a redesign in 1996. In 2007, the Federal Reserve warned of such double-takes when it announced a further redesign for the $100 bill.
The newest version of the C-note has 650,000 microfibers.
The $100 bill is the most frequently counterfeited bill, and the newer designs are aimed at thwarting sophisticated computers and printers, the reserve stated.
“The confusion appears to have arisen over the different security features between modern and older bills,” the Aspen Police Department said in a statement today.
Police already had gone to media in the Roaring Fork Valley to warn local businesses to be on-guard.
Assistant Police Chief Bill Linn said in a press release today he was sorry about the false alarm, but “our interest was solely in preventing anyone from being victimized.”
The money has been returned to the bank, and the Secret Service, the federal agency that investigates counterfeiting, has offered to teach a class in Aspen on how to detect phony money.
Neither Linn nor police spokeswoman Stephanie Dasaro were available for comment after issuing a statement to media.
