ASPEN — The $100 bills that 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 bills earlier that day.
After the U.S. Secret Service took a look, however, Aspen police said Thursday that “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.
Police 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 news release Thursday that he was sorry about the false alarm, but “our interest was solely in preventing anyone from being victimized.”
