Fighting back against the fakers

Schumer comes to RVC to call on Secret Service to crack down on counterfeiters

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U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer came to Rockville Centre on April 8 to urge the Secret Service to devote more resources to fighting counterfeiting operations on Long Island.

Speaking from a podium set up in the middle of Churchill’s Restaurant on Park Avenue, and flanked by Mayor Francis X. Murray and local officials, Schumer called on the Secret Service to put more effort into fighting counterfeiting operations, which he said circulate about $3 million annually in fake bills in the area. The problem is especially hard for local businesses, Schumer said, because when they try to deposit the bills and learn they’re fake, they lose the money.

“There are probably millions of dollars in counterfeit currency circulating in Long Island’s economy right now, and many businesses don’t even realize they’re in possession of them,” Schumer said, adding that small businesses just don’t have the resources to find all the counterfeit bills that they are handed. “Long Island businesses work too hard to have their money taken away.”

The amount of counterfeit currency in circulation has increased over the last few years. There were 160 confirmed incidents of counterfeit bills being circulated in Nassau last year, according to the Nassau County police, and 37 in Rockville Centre alone.

“Even the Village of Rockville Centre’s Cashier Office and Village Court have fallen victim,” Schumer said. “And for every one we know of, there are countless others that we don’t know of.”

Counterfeiting has been on the increase lately as well. The $3 million in counterfeit currency that is estimated to have been circulated in 2014 is a $1 million increase from 2013.

Counterfeiters can be hard to track down because a fake bill could pass hands numerous times before it’s finally discovered. The person who pays for dinner with a bill that’s discovered to be counterfeit could have easily received it as change from another store earlier in the day.

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