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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Counterfeit Payment
Unregistered 09:55 PM 07-17-2014
This is my fifth year running my own daycare. Most parents pay with me with a check. Getting cash was ok, too. Last week, a parent paid me in cash. One of the bills was a counterfeit 100. Something kept happening to keep me from depositing it. It was on my books and everything legit. I run to the store and come to find it was counterfeit. They knew me at the store and said they wouldn't call the cops. I had to put my stuff back as I didn't bring any other money. I called the police and tried to file a report. The police said there is no way for me to prove the parents gave me that fake money. Also, if they did they might not have known either. I feel so embarrassed and stupid.
Cradle2crayons 10:39 PM 07-17-2014
Originally Posted by Unregistered:
This is my fifth year running my own daycare. Most parents pay with me with a check. Getting cash was ok, too. Last week, a parent paid me in cash. One of the bills was a counterfeit 100. Something kept happening to keep me from depositing it. It was on my books and everything legit. I run to the store and come to find it was counterfeit. They knew me at the store and said they wouldn't call the cops. I had to put my stuff back as I didn't bring any other money. I called the police and tried to file a report. The police said there is no way for me to prove the parents gave me that fake money. Also, if they did they might not have known either. I feel so embarrassed and stupid.
This is my fifth year running my own daycare. Most parents pay with me with a check. Getting cash was ok, too. Last week, a parent paid me in cash. One of the bills was a counterfeit 100. Something kept happening to keep me from depositing it. It was on my books and everything legit. I run to the store and come to find it was counterfeit. They knew me at the store and said they wouldn't call the cops. I had to put my stuff back as I didn't bring any other money. I called the police and tried to file a report. The police said there is no way for me to prove the parents gave me that fake money. Also, if they did they might not have known either. I feel so embarrassed and stupid.
just I am so sorry this happened to you. Honestly I never even thought about that happening!!!!
The parents may NOT have known. But either way, because the bill is counterfeit, then tuition actually hasn't been paid yet. I would speak with the parent that gave it to you and let them know the bill is counterfeit.
Something like this.......
Mom, I went last week to deposit the money you gave me and the bank and was informed the $100 bill is counterfeit. I know you didn't know it was fake just like I didn't know when you gave it to me. Since the bill is no good, I'm going to need to collect another $100 to replace this counterfeit bill. I know this is just as much of a shock to you as it is me. I'd appreciate if you could bring payment at pick up this afternoon.
They say MOST people would not recognize a counterfeit bill.
coolconfidentme 03:28 AM 07-18-2014
I would tell the parent & invest in a counterfeit pen. If it was the only cash payment, it could have only came from her.
EntropyControlSpecialist 05:28 AM 07-18-2014
Originally Posted by coolconfidentme:
I would tell the parent & invest in a counterfeit pen. If it was the only cash payment, it could have only came from her.
This sounds like a good plan! I would tell the parent & invest in a counterfeit pen. If it was the only cash payment, it could have only came from her.
Unregistered 10:23 AM 07-18-2014
What a rough night. I couldn't sleep at all. I asked the parents to come in early for drop off. I wanted to speak to them alone. I said "Before you pay me for this week, you still owe me a 100 dollars. The 100 dollars you gave me last week wasn't good." I showed them the money. The bill had the marks. I said "This is your's, because it's the old style. Every where else has the new style". They claimed it wasn't their money. I has to terminate because they wouldn't pay me the 100. They just left and didn't pay for the four days this week either. 
I'm thinking of changing my payment to check only. I don't know how to do without going into a big today. I don't want to send out a newsletter, because my current parents almost always pay by check. I know it it will prompt questions of why.
I'm thinking of changing my payment to check only. I don't know how to do without going into a big today. I don't want to send out a newsletter, because my current parents almost always pay by check. I know it it will prompt questions of why.
Shell 10:38 AM 07-18-2014
wow, what a tough situation- sorry you had to deal with this! It is totally reasonable for you to accept only checks moving forward- it's your business and no one else's "business" why you are doing it. Do you think they knew it was counterfeit, or was it an honest mistake? No matter what, this situation just stinks, and it's too bad they didn't fix their error!
LysesKids 10:47 AM 07-18-2014
Originally Posted by coolconfidentme:
I would tell the parent & invest in a counterfeit pen. If it was the only cash payment, it could have only came from her.
I get paid in cash a lot... I just ordered a counterfeit pen that will be here tomorrow thru Amazon. I don't want to risk having to term a parent that wouldn't pay me after showing them the proof. Now I will be able to check bills as I get them, so nobody can say, it's not mineI would tell the parent & invest in a counterfeit pen. If it was the only cash payment, it could have only came from her.
Unregistered 11:15 AM 07-18-2014
I has this happen to me as well. But not for Day Care. I collected my tenants rent, they pay me in cash. I did not deposit it for 6 days. When I tried the bank (credit union) told me it was counterfeit because of the pen mark did not disappear... But the thing is that it eventually did disappear about 20 days later. I thought maybe it is real, just a really worn out bill. So I took it to a large bank and they accepted it. Are you sure its counterfeit? Have you taken it to then bank?
Second Home 11:19 AM 07-18-2014
You could accept either checks or money orders . That way they still have the option of giving someone cash ( the place they buy the money order from ) if they do not want to write checks .
MOM OF 4 11:26 AM 07-18-2014
Them denying it is suspicious. Maybe they KNOW what's up and intended to scam you. I had a woman make up an OUTRAGEOUS lie to get out of paying me, so outrageous, that she accused someone of assaulting her---only this never happened. I wonder if that case is still archived. She got A LOT of police and other law enforcement to waste resources chasing a ghost. I never got my money, and I got "blocked" from her email/FB/Texts; and when I called her new job after skip-tracing her, she hopped jobs and I haven't heard/seen her since. I got a lawyer involved, but they could not deliver the papers because she left her last known address. She just 'disappeared'. I know she ended up in A LOT of trouble for what she did. Some people are just scammers
coolconfidentme 11:28 AM 07-18-2014
Originally Posted by Unregistered:
I has this happen to me as well. But not for Day Care. I collected my tenants rent, they pay me in cash. I did not deposit it for 6 days. When I tried the bank (credit union) told me it was counterfeit because of the pen mark did not disappear... But the thing is that it eventually did disappear about 20 days later. I thought maybe it is real, just a really worn out bill. So I took it to a large bank and they accepted it. Are you sure its counterfeit? Have you taken it to then bank?
Not to steal the post, but I have my tenants deposit rent directly into my bank account. Their name is printed on their receipt. Maybe do this for DC??? idk...I has this happen to me as well. But not for Day Care. I collected my tenants rent, they pay me in cash. I did not deposit it for 6 days. When I tried the bank (credit union) told me it was counterfeit because of the pen mark did not disappear... But the thing is that it eventually did disappear about 20 days later. I thought maybe it is real, just a really worn out bill. So I took it to a large bank and they accepted it. Are you sure its counterfeit? Have you taken it to then bank?
AmyKidsCo 11:55 AM 07-18-2014
Oh no! It never occurred to me to worry about counterfeit cash. And I usually think cash is safer than checks because I've had many checks bounce over the years. Guess my NSF policy will be changed so I only accept money orders instead of cash. Ugh, the stuff we have to deal with!
And I usually think cash is safer than checks because I've had many checks bounce over the years. Guess my NSF policy will be changed so I only accept money orders instead of cash. Ugh, the stuff we have to deal with!
Patches 12:29 PM 07-18-2014
I'm so sorry this happened to you. I have always been afraid if this happening. I might get a counterfeit pen now
Second Home 12:41 PM 07-18-2014
I never thought of this happening , though I never get an bills larger then a 20.
nannyde 01:25 PM 07-18-2014
You should have told them they were the only parents who paid by cash. I would contact them and tell them if they didn't bring me my money I would call the police.
TwinKristi 01:30 PM 07-18-2014
I had a friend who worked at a fast food place at a local outlet mall and accepted a counterfeit $100. Her boss said "watch and learn" and took the $100 to another store and asked for change and came back with 5 $20's.
I would try taking it to a bank and go from there. Then I would invoice the family for $100 plus the 4 days this week and 2wks notice they skipped out on. Send them to collections, small claims court, etc. So lame!! I've never had any problems with cash but if I did and they didn't pay I would be pissed too.
I would try taking it to a bank and go from there. Then I would invoice the family for $100 plus the 4 days this week and 2wks notice they skipped out on. Send them to collections, small claims court, etc. So lame!! I've never had any problems with cash but if I did and they didn't pay I would be pissed too.
MrsSteinel'sHouse 01:33 PM 07-18-2014
Them walking out is strange. I would have felt really bad if I had given someone a counterfeit bill! My reaction would not be to walk out. I would also contact them and tell them they owe you for their 2 weeks as well as the $100 and that if you do not pay that you will be contacting the police about the bill.
Unregistered 02:23 PM 07-18-2014
Anyone can get a counterfit bill. If you take it to the bank they are required to keep it and you are out your money. If you are dishonest but need the money you can try and pass it to someone unsuspecting. Business do this alot. I personally would chalk it up to lesson learned and don't accept cash anymore. As for the parents who gave you the counterfit..they have no way of knowing if you are trying to pass it off on them or not. As far as they are concerned they paid. If you gave someone cash and a few days later they came back to you and told you that the money you gave them was fake would you be happy to pay them even more money? Probably not.
craftymissbeth 02:40 PM 07-18-2014
Originally Posted by Unregistered:
Anyone can get a counterfit bill. If you take it to the bank they are required to keep it and you are out your money. If you are dishonest but need the money you can try and pass it to someone unsuspecting. Business do this alot. I personally would chalk it up to lesson learned and don't accept cash anymore. As for the parents who gave you the counterfit..they have no way of knowing if you are trying to pass it off on them or not. As far as they are concerned they paid. If you gave someone cash and a few days later they came back to you and told you that the money you gave them was fake would you be happy to pay them even more money? Probably not.
Anyone can get a counterfit bill. If you take it to the bank they are required to keep it and you are out your money. If you are dishonest but need the money you can try and pass it to someone unsuspecting. Business do this alot. I personally would chalk it up to lesson learned and don't accept cash anymore. As for the parents who gave you the counterfit..they have no way of knowing if you are trying to pass it off on them or not. As far as they are concerned they paid. If you gave someone cash and a few days later they came back to you and told you that the money you gave them was fake would you be happy to pay them even more money? Probably not.
OP, you're out the $100, sorry to say. Unfortunately, you have no proof of where you got that bill from. If you try to spend it or get change for it then you will be committing a crime... and since the Dept. of Treasury suggests businesses stall the customer and immediately call the police, you can end up in big trouble.
As far as getting that money back from your client, it's not likely. You accepted that bill as payment for services without taking steps in determining whether it was real or not.
It's unfortunate, but I would chalk this up as a learning experience and make sure you do what you need to for this not to happen again.
Dept. of Treasury's steps on what to do if you receive a counterfeit:
http://www.treasury.gov/about/organi...u-suspect.aspx
How to know if money is counterfeit:
http://www.secretservice.gov/money_detect.shtml
How a counterfeit pen works:
http://money.howstuffworks.com/question212.htm
craftymissbeth 02:46 PM 07-18-2014
Also, here are examples of businesses that unknowingly passed on counterfeits to their customers and were not required to reimburse them.
U.S. Postal Service (!!!)
http://articles.latimes.com/2010/may...zarus-20100525
TD Bank (they eventually offered a refund, but were not required to)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/0...n_1567745.html
U.S. Postal Service (!!!)
http://articles.latimes.com/2010/may...zarus-20100525
TD Bank (they eventually offered a refund, but were not required to)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/0...n_1567745.html
Unregistered 02:47 PM 07-18-2014
Originally Posted by AmyKidsCo:
Oh no! It never occurred to me to worry about counterfeit cash. And I usually think cash is safer than checks because I've had many checks bounce over the years. Guess my NSF policy will be changed so I only accept money orders instead of cash. Ugh, the stuff we have to deal with!
OP here. I never thought of it either. Especially, because I was always wrongly told (I don't know if it's wrong or if it changed) if you could prove someone gave you the counterfeit money they could get in legal trouble. Now, it's like hot potato who has it last. Oh no! It never occurred to me to worry about counterfeit cash.
And I usually think cash is safer than checks because I've had many checks bounce over the years. Guess my NSF policy will be changed so I only accept money orders instead of cash. Ugh, the stuff we have to deal with!
Unregistered 03:26 PM 07-18-2014
Originally Posted by Unregistered:
OP here. I never thought of it either. Especially, because I was always wrongly told (I don't know if it's wrong or if it changed) if you could prove someone gave you the counterfeit money they could get in legal trouble. Now, it's like hot potato who has it last.
Her fingerprints wouldn't have been on the bill? I mean, aside from no doubt hundreds of prints, hers would be there too...OP here. I never thought of it either. Especially, because I was always wrongly told (I don't know if it's wrong or if it changed) if you could prove someone gave you the counterfeit money they could get in legal trouble. Now, it's like hot potato who has it last.
Unregistered 06:09 PM 07-18-2014
Originally Posted by nannyde:
You should have told them they were the only parents who paid by cash. I would contact them and tell them if they didn't bring me my money I would call the police.
I have called the police. The police basically told me there's no way for me to prove they gave it to me. It's been a week, I could have switched it. They could investigate, but the family might not know it was real. I talked to someone else about it and I said maybe I should have bought a pen. The person told me the pen can give a false positive you need to buy something with a UV part to tell like a good fake. I forgot the name, but I'm sure if anyone is interested they can google it. I'm just only taking cash from my bank. Anywhere else I'll take checks or money orders.You should have told them they were the only parents who paid by cash. I would contact them and tell them if they didn't bring me my money I would call the police.
Unregistered 06:13 PM 07-18-2014
Originally Posted by TwinKristi:
I had a friend who worked at a fast food place at a local outlet mall and accepted a counterfeit $100. Her boss said "watch and learn" and took the $100 to another store and asked for change and came back with 5 $20's.
I would try taking it to a bank and go from there. Then I would invoice the family for $100 plus the 4 days this week and 2wks notice they skipped out on. Send them to collections, small claims court, etc. So lame!! I've never had any problems with cash but if I did and they didn't pay I would be pissed too.
I'm just going to take the loss. I don't think I will file a police report, because the law system has let me down. I was given fake money and I can prove who gave it to me, but the police said they can't file a report about them giving me the money because it's not the same day. There's a possibility, I switched the money. I'm not going to pay for legal services for less than 300 dollars. I can't be losing more and more with no gains. Now, I know to never accept cash again. I'm also going to change my policy when a new family comes, as I usually do so people just think routine is changing and not to point fingers, I will make a clause of being paid the beginning of the week instead of the end.I had a friend who worked at a fast food place at a local outlet mall and accepted a counterfeit $100. Her boss said "watch and learn" and took the $100 to another store and asked for change and came back with 5 $20's.
I would try taking it to a bank and go from there. Then I would invoice the family for $100 plus the 4 days this week and 2wks notice they skipped out on. Send them to collections, small claims court, etc. So lame!! I've never had any problems with cash but if I did and they didn't pay I would be pissed too.
Unregistered 06:18 PM 07-18-2014
Originally Posted by Unregistered:
Anyone can get a counterfit bill. If you take it to the bank they are required to keep it and you are out your money. If you are dishonest but need the money you can try and pass it to someone unsuspecting. Business do this alot. I personally would chalk it up to lesson learned and don't accept cash anymore. As for the parents who gave you the counterfit..they have no way of knowing if you are trying to pass it off on them or not. As far as they are concerned they paid. If you gave someone cash and a few days later they came back to you and told you that the money you gave them was fake would you be happy to pay them even more money? Probably not.
The only proof, which is not real proof I have as they can lie, is wasn't the new style of 100 dollar bill. I said that to them and that's when they got very mad at me. I don't think they are counterfeiters or in on it, but I think it was passed to them and they found out and passed it to me. They were very funny about it. I noticed they didn't bring up the 20s that they gave me. If someone accused me of passing fake money, I would ask about the whole sum. I mean who would make that up and say just a part was fake? I agree, anyone can give you fake money. I think that's the police aren't very helpful to me. They seem more concerned about the counterfeiters than anyone passing them. Also, when talking to someone I know who works in a bank, they told me there are good fakes. They told me pens don't always work. If you're taking in a lot of cash you need something, I forgot the name, that has a UV light. Real money has hidden messages, fakes can't fake them. Only UV light can read it.Anyone can get a counterfit bill. If you take it to the bank they are required to keep it and you are out your money. If you are dishonest but need the money you can try and pass it to someone unsuspecting. Business do this alot. I personally would chalk it up to lesson learned and don't accept cash anymore. As for the parents who gave you the counterfit..they have no way of knowing if you are trying to pass it off on them or not. As far as they are concerned they paid. If you gave someone cash and a few days later they came back to you and told you that the money you gave them was fake would you be happy to pay them even more money? Probably not.
Unregistered 06:21 PM 07-18-2014
Originally Posted by craftymissbeth:
Also, here are examples of businesses that unknowingly passed on counterfeits to their customers and were not required to reimburse them.
U.S. Postal Service (!!!)
http://articles.latimes.com/2010/may...zarus-20100525
TD Bank (they eventually offered a refund, but were not required to)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/0...n_1567745.html
I'm aware. The police told me I wouldn't be getting my money back, but mostly the police gave me as attitude like I switched the money. Also, here are examples of businesses that unknowingly passed on counterfeits to their customers and were not required to reimburse them.
U.S. Postal Service (!!!)
http://articles.latimes.com/2010/may...zarus-20100525
TD Bank (they eventually offered a refund, but were not required to)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/0...n_1567745.html
I have the money in a locking compartment in my office. If authorities want it, I will hand it over. I don't want anyone saying I gave it to them.
CraftyMom 07:59 PM 07-18-2014
You cold also go with online payments. I use Childcarepay.com through minute menu. OMG I love it! There is never an exchange of hands of any payment! No worrying about cash or checks being bad!
Unregistered 08:05 PM 07-18-2014
Originally Posted by CraftyMom:
You cold also go with online payments. I use Childcarepay.com through minute menu. OMG I love it! There is never an exchange of hands of any payment! No worrying about cash or checks being bad!
Is it a free service or do I have to pay a monthly fee?You cold also go with online payments. I use Childcarepay.com through minute menu. OMG I love it! There is never an exchange of hands of any payment! No worrying about cash or checks being bad!