ABC-7 LISTENS: Counterfeit Credit Union Cash?

An El Paso woman tells ABC-7 that she found herself the victim of counterfeit cash, and she thinks the bogus bills came from her local credit union.

The senior citizen, who declined an on-camera interview, said she went to her credit union to get $20 bills with which to pay her gardener.

She said her gardener then called her and told her the cash was rejected by three different merchants.

When the woman took the 20s back to the credit union, she said she was told that nothing could be done.

ABC-7 got in touch with the U.S. Secret Service in El Paso, which handles counterfeiting cases.

Resident Agent-In-Charge Ed Garcia said with many security checks in place, it is very rare for fake bills to slip through banking institutions.

However, he added that if that is what happened in this instance, the credit union’s hands really are tied and the woman is out of luck.

“Unfortunately, it is the last person who had the money whether they knew that it was counterfeit when they walked out the door or they didn’t,” Garcia said.

“You can’t blame the banks to say, ‘Well, I can’t just take your word for it that you walked out of here and then found out it was counterfeit.'”

Garcia said El Paso’s Secret Service office sees, on average, about $3,000-$7,000 worth of fake cash every week, most turned in by banks and merchants.

Still, he said that is relatively low when compared to major cities, New York and Miami in particular.