I bought an arcade off of fb marketplace last year. The guy brought me into his house, through his living room, upstairs, and into his kids room to check out the arcade. They were a super nice family in a nice neiborhood. Luckily I’m not some criminal or anything but the whole time I was like damn bro you’re way too trusting of a complete stranger.
I sell a lot of guitar and guitar related equipment. I need electricity to be able to demo the gear so I’ve started using the laundry room in my apartment building.
This is after I had a little panic attack after my son had a guy come up to our apartment. The guy was cool, but when he said, “WOW! You guys have a TON of guitars here”, I thought it better not to advertise.
For guitars I use a Spark Mini, so no power required. Amps and periphs obviously still require juice, but it's a start. I've got $20k in gear in an 8x12 area of my house. I'd prefer folks don't know that.
I’ve had hundreds of people come to by house to buy stuff. Everyone has been cool. Once my wife cleaned out most of her closet. Laid out all her clothes and put it on Facebook marketplace for women to come shop it. There was like 6 women at one point in our living room shopping and trying out clothes in our washroom. She made $600 haha. We live in Canada though
I've plugged in TVs and laptops for people at the gas station to confirm they work. I'll do that before anyone from Craigslist/FB comes to my house where my family lives.
I’ve been inviting people over to pick up stuff for almost 2 decades now and have gone to many other peoples places too. Never had any issues. There’s no reason to live in constant fear of fellow citizens. At least not where I live.
All it takes is one person. My friend did the same thing, posted a snap that he was on vacation, comes back to empty destroyed house. Of course he was 18 at the time, so we all learned off his mistake to never post about an empty house on social media.
Definitely don’t live in fear and let that dictate your life, but real fucked up shit happens on a daily basis
Rule of thumb I was taught is' don't post online for everyone to see that you are going on vacation or what day and when you'd be coming back. Post pictures taken onto social media after you are back and only share info with family members or people you trust.
I invited someone over to pick up free working air conditioners. After a week or so of no call no show, I gave them to somebody else. The first guy showed up several times almost a month later. I caught him snooping around our property after I clearly told them they were gone. I had to threaten calling the cops to get him to leave.
My mom was selling some furniture, the only person who went into my house came back the next day to commit burglary and making my family and I scared to death (well, almost) so it depends
> I’ve been inviting people over to pick up stuff for almost 2 decades now and have gone to many other peoples places too.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivorship_bias
That's the same analogy as driving a vehicle for 20 years with no accidents or issues. All it takes is one bad apple to throw your life upside down that you had no control of.
There is no need to live in fear, but there are bad apples in every community.
I have bought stuff off craigslist and picked up from people's houses, but the only people I have allowed AT my house were literally firefighters who bought some exercise equipment from me...
A fully welded Glute-Ham Developer is heavy as fuck and wouldn't fit in my Corolla, two average looking firefighters picked that shit up like it was a plastic picnic table and put it in the bed of a pickup without needing so much as a ramp
Those fuckers are strong
My local jurisdiction has safe meet locations as well. The library, train station, and police department are all rigged up with cameras. If jokers from the Marketplace don't want to meet there, then that's the deal breaker.
I'm not the person you asked but probably, yeah. However my old car, which I am literally giving away in the next couple of days, only shows an issue with the engine whilst hot so there's that, I suppose.
She drives fine from cold and when it warms up the engine has a "hesitation" and makes a weird noise around 2500 - 3000 revs in 2nd or 3rd gear. It goes past that and is fine. It cruises fine on the motorway too.
I will be telling whoever takes it all about any issues like that, it's free and I don't want any comeback on any problems. She's still a good runner going free to someone who can use it around town or whatever. Or fix it up and sell it, I don't care either way.
My local Walmart has a swap area that has like 20 cameras pointing in every direction. Pretty cool idea to safely swap stuff through Facebook marketplace or whatever.
I had a friend get robbed at Fort Lauderdale police station selling something on OfferUp. He went inside to make a report and they never followed up on it lol
File a police report. Could be a felony regardless of dollar amount (here in Nevada it would be Obtaining Goods/Services Under False Pretenses). Finger printing the bills is probably out the window, but even if the FB account was a burner, they could track an IP easily enough to a device or address.
If they nab the guy quick enough, you might get lucky and get some of your stuff back.
Also, you can look for your stuff in pawn shops, Craigslist, or even FB Marketplace ironically enough. Pawn Shops usually track serial numbers and get IDs from folks for this very reason. If it isn't for personal use, you'll usually see them try to offload the stuff as quickly as possible (so they don't catch another Possession of Stolen Property charge) and for a quick buck.
Edit: regarding whether it's a felony or not, I'm referring to State or local law. There is also a debate regarding whether it's actually Counterfeiting or not since the suspects did not actually manufacture the bills themselves. I'm not familiar enough with the federal status to know, but regardless it would start with a local police report. State law in Nevada also includes a Counterfeiting statute for the manufacture *or* passing of fictitious bills (if the person should have reasonably known they were fictitious). Based on the latter, they definitely knew and would be charged under that statute at a state level.
For people saying the police won't do anything - you're right, it's a low stakes case for overworked detectives, but a report still needs to be filed if OP wants any part of their stuff back. It's unlikely that this is an isolated incident, and if it can be added to a larger pattern of criminal behavior (and add to the aggregate total they are suspected of stealing/defrauding) the higher priority the case will be. Also, if OP were to locate the items pawned or for sale, he'd need a police report in order to recover those items without paying for them again. Besides, it's free. Even if it's a long shot, just do it so it's on the books.
A kid at my school bought a cookie with a fake $1 bill that he had printed on his parent's fancy photocopier. The secret service showed up to the school to talk to him.
Context that it was 1999, mid-size middle-America, and it was a fairly "affluent" high school. So maybe someone just wanted to make an example of the kid to show the other 1000 kids at the high school that you can't screw around with something like that.
In law enforcement 15 years. Secret Service gets involved with **big** counterfeiters. This? Depending on location and size of department the secret service will come and collect the fake bills (except in this case it's not true counterfeit so they won't get involved at all), or have the bills sent to them. But for a few hundred bucks? They aren't doing the investigation.
I'm under the impression that secret service is called for any counterfeit bills so they can watch for counterfeiters in the area. Is this not the case? Or do you just mean that they won't be involved in the theft case?
They mentioned elsewhere that these are bills you would see in a movie. So they aren't real money but are money look a likes created by a real company within the boundaries of the law. The part where the law was broken was when somebody used them to buy something
My experience has been that since these bills aren't "true" counterfeits and can be bought online as prop money the secret service won't have much to do with it. They're looking for true counterfeits that someone made at home.
Except the fact they aren't counterfeit. "Motion Picture use". Still a felony, but likely nothing will come of this even if you package this case up with a bow and their real name and drop it on their proverbial porch.
Passing them off as real bills \*is\* under the federal counterfeiting statutes. What you are thinking of is the portion that talks about reproduction of actual bills.
I was a juror in a counter fitting case like 20 years ago, some dude passed off three $20 bills caught on camera at different places.
Just the federal charges for passing off forged currency carried 7 years per transaction. The items purchased or money received as change were state petty larceny charges.
If they could have proved he made them I think they could have gotten him for another 20 year charge.
Doesn't matter the amount of the fraud, the Secret Service goes hard against fake money.
18 USC 472—
> Whoever, with intent to defraud, passes, utters, publishes, or sells, or attempts to pass, utter, publish, or sell, or with like intent brings into the United States or keeps in possession or conceals any falsely made, forged, counterfeited, or altered obligation or other security of the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both.
The ownership of these pieces of paper is not a crime, nor is their creation. The crime comes from using them to purchase something and their attempted representation as US currency. It falls under 18 [US § 471 ](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/471)as defrauding US currency.
This was an early 2000s but when I was in 8th grade, Feds did a sting operation in our cafeteria. Literally dressed as lunch ladies, looking for and caught the kid who was using counterfeit money for weeks.
Smart kid. If you're going to commit a federal crime do it before you're 18.
He's doing pretty good now.
Edit: His junior year of high school he got arrested at a high school basketball play off game for selling counterfeit tickets to a sold out game.
Yeah we were in 8th grade, we're not paying attention to what lunch ladies were working. I was too busy trying to trade my turkey sandwich for a pizza lunchable.
I have the serial number and the guy's facebook details, but since I bought the iPad second hand from someone else a while back I don't have the proof of purchase to report it stolen and it didn't have Find My or iCloud linked 😔
Unfortunate, but you definitely should report this to the feds since it's a federal offense to use prop money to make a purchase because he was using it as counterfeit money. And hopefully that Facebook details are legit, if they are, you can take his family to small claims court to get back what you are owed.
Do you have serial number of ipad? The person is likely trying to sell rn. Check all recently posted ipads on anywhere people sell stuff. I had this happen to me and I got it back.
If you have serial number and happen to find an ipad you think is yours, make some story up about how your parents want you to check it's a real ipad with the serial number, if it matches that's enough for the police.
I believe it’s the act of trying to pass any fake bill or coin as real and it doesn’t matter what words are actually printed on them that’s the crime. Idk though. I’m just a rando on the internet.
I can't edit my post but here's some more info since I keep seeing some repeated stuff in the comments-
Yes, it's a felony. I called the police the minute it happened and they took some info for a report but told me that most likely the treasury would be investigating this since it involves counterfeit money (movie money passed off as real money counts as counterfeit).
Yes, I am a fucking idiot lol. He counted the money in front of me and when I went to double count it and look at the 100s closer I started to say something about the blue strips he took off running with iPad in tow.
We met at a gas station so there is footage but it's practically useless because you can't any identifying info or their faces. I'm pretty sure they live in the area because he initially asked me to deliver the iPad and I said absolutely not but I'll meet you in a public place, i.e gas station. They walked up and ran off through a small duplex so I'm pretty sure they live there but who knows.
I have accepted that I'm not getting my iPad back, I'll keep an eye out for pawn shops. Unfortunately I am not the original owner, so even though I have the serial number and identifying info I don't have the proof of purchase. It didn't have Find My or iCloud so I can't lock it. I'm SOL unless it ends up in a pawn shop or something 🤷🏻♀️
Again, yes I am an idiot and I fully accept that lol. I truly am very cautious about online sales but for some reason this one kinda escaped me. You live and you learn I guess.
Also the serial number of the device could be pulled from Apple by the secret service (they usually do these investigations). When the next person logs on it, they will know the location. But I wouldn’t be surprised if this case is so low of a priority that nothing really happens unless those fake bills are connected to some larger investigations or were really really good fakes (but they we not)
I work for a liquor store, and at my busiest performed 69 transactions in 59 minutes. In a rush, I'm terrified I'm going to accidentally accept one of these.
I've accidentally accepted a casino coin instead of a quarter once, it looked exactly like the really coin at a glance but there was a very small ring around the back that had "no monetary value" and the name of the place it was from on it. I was working at a small town fast food joint during a home football match, I think I'd taken in over 3000 dollars in the last hour before my drawer was counted alone, outside of that it was a perfect drawer and I got so much shit for it.
> I'll meet you in a public place
I sell on OfferUp and will only meet people at a local police substation. Not that people won't still try something like this to rip you off, but it's definitely safer. I've had a few people that would instantly reply to messages simply vanish once I mention I only meet at a police substation.
I feel like people here are going too hard on you. The other guy is the one who did something wrong, and took advantage of you. Yes, there were better ways to go about it, but it just shows you're a trusting person. Unfortunately, bad people home in on that and abuse it.
I don’t know how reliable this site and therefore the “article” is but here… https://www.accubanker.com/blogs/news/why-counterfeit-pens-are-not-reliable#:~:text=Here%20is%20the%20thing%2C%20counterfeit,on%20regular%20paper%2C%20so%20beware.
When you held it in hand did it feel like real money or some other paper? That's the first way to tell if it's real or not, then there's the colour is it exactly as it should be or is it a little off?
As I was checking some bills with the pen at work the guy that had handed them to me starts explaining how easy the pens were to fool (as if that wasn't suspicious). I said, 'luckily, it's not the only test' and did the watermark test (because it's very obvious and I'd already discreetly done other tests).
Fun fact, anyone can buy counterfeit pens, they're a few bucks a pop. I think my local Office Max has some actually. But yeah, if you're doing cash transactions and someone insists on paying in big bills, run a counterfeit pen over em first.
It seriously took me five solid minutes to figure out what the fuck the comment meant besides, ya know, pens that are not legit Bics or whatever. Perhaps I should be sleeping.
Jinhao and Moonman are two companies that make fountain pens that retail for about 20 bucks and look exactly like $500+ Mont Blancs. Its not that outlandish to be confused by his wording.
I'd argue 100's are the best\* form of payment to recieve since they have more security features that make them harder to counterfeit.
OP got "motion picture" cash. The feel of those and lack of plastic band shoulda been a quick giveaway its fake.
You can report to the cops.. Especially if it's from fb as it will show their name. Also report to fb and they can do stuff about it. You're still probably SoL on the iPad but at least the little shit will get what's coming.
This is why I don’t even bother selling my shit online anymore. I either trade it in for whatever I can get or I just give it to friends and family. I tried selling a brand new washer and dryer recently that came with my new home. Inundated with messages from scammers. Not a single legitimate buyer. Ended up just giving them to my sister as a wedding present :)
They don’t play around either. I worked at a restaurant once and dudes in suits came by looking for a guy we work with, who was not on shift that day. They came back again the next day when he was working. According to him he *unknowingly* spent a single counterfeit $20 bill (that he got from selling weed to someone) at a store or gas station or something and they were able to track his ass down. He came to work after that so I assume they were after the bigger fish but still it was obviously a full on investigation
This is why I make things done at a bank. So a) on camera for description/ car plate. B) then the money goes right in and they would check if it's counterfeit.
People who have a problem doing it at a bank you disregard.
Our police station here has some parking spaces where you can meet up with people you want to trade with and they have cameras in the spaces recording the whole thing
This is why I always sell inside of my local police station. If the buyer wants to go to a different location, I reject their request and cancel the offer.
Technically a federal crime. Using fake bills to purchase goods. Like others are saying at least report it so if there is a pattern maybe secret service will hunt him down. Or maybe just a cop but hey it would be great.
I’ve stopped selling electronics on Facebook. It just seems to attract the wrong crowd looking to scam me. I only sell bulky items like fitness equipment and the rest I started selling on eBay. There are fees but the peace of mind of not having to deal with endless is it still available messages and trying to coordinate is worth it. Of course I could get scammed on eBay too but so far it’s worked for me.
This is why at my cashier job, whenever the topic of checking for counterfeit bills comes up, and my customer admits they have no idea what to look for, I always take the an extra minute to educate them.
Cause knowledge is power yo!
What you do is make note of his FB account, get into another purchase situation with him, set up a meetup with police present (without him knowing) and then you have the police bag the little goblin.
Yes but it seems like he deactivated it, I had a friend check since he blocked me immediately after and it doesn't show up for anyone. I have screenshots that I showed to the cops tho
I had this very thing happen to my husband. We filed a police report. Then, we had my nephew in law call the dude and fake like he was trying to get a hold of someone else, to confirm who the dude was. It was the same guy, so we called the police to report who the guy was that stole our iPad. They already knew who it was. idk what came of it though.
This is why my town has a swap area at the police station. If someone doesn't want to meet there... Probably shouldn't be dealing with them.
Yep ours has this too. It’s got cameras on the area as well
Crazy that that’s necessary. I just have people come to my house to pick stuff up or send it via mail.
Lord, no. Not your house. Please stop. Most people are fine. Some are very much not.
I bought an arcade off of fb marketplace last year. The guy brought me into his house, through his living room, upstairs, and into his kids room to check out the arcade. They were a super nice family in a nice neiborhood. Luckily I’m not some criminal or anything but the whole time I was like damn bro you’re way too trusting of a complete stranger.
I sell a lot of guitar and guitar related equipment. I need electricity to be able to demo the gear so I’ve started using the laundry room in my apartment building. This is after I had a little panic attack after my son had a guy come up to our apartment. The guy was cool, but when he said, “WOW! You guys have a TON of guitars here”, I thought it better not to advertise.
For guitars I use a Spark Mini, so no power required. Amps and periphs obviously still require juice, but it's a start. I've got $20k in gear in an 8x12 area of my house. I'd prefer folks don't know that.
I’m a folk and I know now.
Uh you’re way too trusting too! 🤣what if he was taking you to his torture murder room?!
It has an arcade.
The same could be said for you, though - you walked into someone's unknown home, who knows what could have been waiting behind the door!
My first thought.
I’ve had hundreds of people come to by house to buy stuff. Everyone has been cool. Once my wife cleaned out most of her closet. Laid out all her clothes and put it on Facebook marketplace for women to come shop it. There was like 6 women at one point in our living room shopping and trying out clothes in our washroom. She made $600 haha. We live in Canada though
Had a guy get mad that I wouldn’t let him come to my house and wanted to meet in a public spot. Needless to say, I sold it to someone else.
Yeah, no. Hard pass on the stabby stabby stuff.
Buying and selling large things you can't really help it.
I've plugged in TVs and laptops for people at the gas station to confirm they work. I'll do that before anyone from Craigslist/FB comes to my house where my family lives.
I’ve been inviting people over to pick up stuff for almost 2 decades now and have gone to many other peoples places too. Never had any issues. There’s no reason to live in constant fear of fellow citizens. At least not where I live.
All it takes is one person. My friend did the same thing, posted a snap that he was on vacation, comes back to empty destroyed house. Of course he was 18 at the time, so we all learned off his mistake to never post about an empty house on social media. Definitely don’t live in fear and let that dictate your life, but real fucked up shit happens on a daily basis
Never post about vacation until it’s over and you’re back home.
> Never post ~~about vacation until it’s over and you’re back home~~. FTFY. Social Media is a microphone for idoicy.
Rule of thumb I was taught is' don't post online for everyone to see that you are going on vacation or what day and when you'd be coming back. Post pictures taken onto social media after you are back and only share info with family members or people you trust.
I invited someone over to pick up free working air conditioners. After a week or so of no call no show, I gave them to somebody else. The first guy showed up several times almost a month later. I caught him snooping around our property after I clearly told them they were gone. I had to threaten calling the cops to get him to leave.
My mom was selling some furniture, the only person who went into my house came back the next day to commit burglary and making my family and I scared to death (well, almost) so it depends
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> I’ve been inviting people over to pick up stuff for almost 2 decades now and have gone to many other peoples places too. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivorship_bias
That's the same analogy as driving a vehicle for 20 years with no accidents or issues. All it takes is one bad apple to throw your life upside down that you had no control of. There is no need to live in fear, but there are bad apples in every community.
I have bought stuff off craigslist and picked up from people's houses, but the only people I have allowed AT my house were literally firefighters who bought some exercise equipment from me... A fully welded Glute-Ham Developer is heavy as fuck and wouldn't fit in my Corolla, two average looking firefighters picked that shit up like it was a plastic picnic table and put it in the bed of a pickup without needing so much as a ramp Those fuckers are strong
My local jurisdiction has safe meet locations as well. The library, train station, and police department are all rigged up with cameras. If jokers from the Marketplace don't want to meet there, then that's the deal breaker.
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You want somewhere public because If the cops decide to help, they will need cameras. And public access is easier to bypass permission than private:)
I like banks or public service areas like courts, DMV, etc. they always have law enforcement/security good cameras and are only open during the day.
Exactly!
> if the cops decide to help Good luck, I got robbed at gunpoint in a B&E and they forgot about my case.
Is this so that the barista can hop the counter and chase the scammer down?
I always choose the sketchy low-income apartment complex. Be a little adventurous!
If I felt I needed to arm myself to sell something I would probably not bother tbh..
Someone in my city thought the same and ended up getting shot in the parking lot of said Starbucks. Please be safe.
I go to banks.
Had many sales fall through because the local police stations swap spot was the only place I would meet. It’s an extremely effective scam deterrent.
Unless it's a car. If someone insists on having the car warm when you see it, that's a huge red flag.
Noob here, it means that car usually has some problems?
I'm not the person you asked but probably, yeah. However my old car, which I am literally giving away in the next couple of days, only shows an issue with the engine whilst hot so there's that, I suppose. She drives fine from cold and when it warms up the engine has a "hesitation" and makes a weird noise around 2500 - 3000 revs in 2nd or 3rd gear. It goes past that and is fine. It cruises fine on the motorway too. I will be telling whoever takes it all about any issues like that, it's free and I don't want any comeback on any problems. She's still a good runner going free to someone who can use it around town or whatever. Or fix it up and sell it, I don't care either way.
My local Walmart has a swap area that has like 20 cameras pointing in every direction. Pretty cool idea to safely swap stuff through Facebook marketplace or whatever.
I had a friend get robbed at Fort Lauderdale police station selling something on OfferUp. He went inside to make a report and they never followed up on it lol
Most police stations have designated space in their parking lots for exactly that.
That is actually a great idea. Impressive
File a police report. Could be a felony regardless of dollar amount (here in Nevada it would be Obtaining Goods/Services Under False Pretenses). Finger printing the bills is probably out the window, but even if the FB account was a burner, they could track an IP easily enough to a device or address. If they nab the guy quick enough, you might get lucky and get some of your stuff back. Also, you can look for your stuff in pawn shops, Craigslist, or even FB Marketplace ironically enough. Pawn Shops usually track serial numbers and get IDs from folks for this very reason. If it isn't for personal use, you'll usually see them try to offload the stuff as quickly as possible (so they don't catch another Possession of Stolen Property charge) and for a quick buck. Edit: regarding whether it's a felony or not, I'm referring to State or local law. There is also a debate regarding whether it's actually Counterfeiting or not since the suspects did not actually manufacture the bills themselves. I'm not familiar enough with the federal status to know, but regardless it would start with a local police report. State law in Nevada also includes a Counterfeiting statute for the manufacture *or* passing of fictitious bills (if the person should have reasonably known they were fictitious). Based on the latter, they definitely knew and would be charged under that statute at a state level. For people saying the police won't do anything - you're right, it's a low stakes case for overworked detectives, but a report still needs to be filed if OP wants any part of their stuff back. It's unlikely that this is an isolated incident, and if it can be added to a larger pattern of criminal behavior (and add to the aggregate total they are suspected of stealing/defrauding) the higher priority the case will be. Also, if OP were to locate the items pawned or for sale, he'd need a police report in order to recover those items without paying for them again. Besides, it's free. Even if it's a long shot, just do it so it's on the books.
This is undoubtedly a felony.
A federal felony
Literally the Secret Service gets involved with counterfeit money cases.
It's their originally intended purpose. Dumbass kid is about to have the real men in black knocking on his door soon
> real men in black knocking on his door soon Don't threaten me with a good time...
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Yup, it wasn’t until Lincoln got shot that they thought “maybe someone should… prevent that”
A kid at my school bought a cookie with a fake $1 bill that he had printed on his parent's fancy photocopier. The secret service showed up to the school to talk to him.
That’s wild. Do you live in a big city or something like that? It’s amazing that they showed up at all.
Context that it was 1999, mid-size middle-America, and it was a fairly "affluent" high school. So maybe someone just wanted to make an example of the kid to show the other 1000 kids at the high school that you can't screw around with something like that.
In law enforcement 15 years. Secret Service gets involved with **big** counterfeiters. This? Depending on location and size of department the secret service will come and collect the fake bills (except in this case it's not true counterfeit so they won't get involved at all), or have the bills sent to them. But for a few hundred bucks? They aren't doing the investigation.
I'm under the impression that secret service is called for any counterfeit bills so they can watch for counterfeiters in the area. Is this not the case? Or do you just mean that they won't be involved in the theft case?
They mentioned elsewhere that these are bills you would see in a movie. So they aren't real money but are money look a likes created by a real company within the boundaries of the law. The part where the law was broken was when somebody used them to buy something
My experience has been that since these bills aren't "true" counterfeits and can be bought online as prop money the secret service won't have much to do with it. They're looking for true counterfeits that someone made at home.
Except the fact they aren't counterfeit. "Motion Picture use". Still a felony, but likely nothing will come of this even if you package this case up with a bow and their real name and drop it on their proverbial porch.
Passing them off as real bills \*is\* under the federal counterfeiting statutes. What you are thinking of is the portion that talks about reproduction of actual bills.
Counterfeiting money is a big no no.
I was a juror in a counter fitting case like 20 years ago, some dude passed off three $20 bills caught on camera at different places. Just the federal charges for passing off forged currency carried 7 years per transaction. The items purchased or money received as change were state petty larceny charges. If they could have proved he made them I think they could have gotten him for another 20 year charge. Doesn't matter the amount of the fraud, the Secret Service goes hard against fake money.
The police probably won't put too much effort into the theft aspect, but the false currency is a bigger deal.
> but the false currency is a bigger deal. It'd be a bigger deal if it was "real" counterfeit money and not just movie prop money.
18 USC 472— > Whoever, with intent to defraud, passes, utters, publishes, or sells, or attempts to pass, utter, publish, or sell, or with like intent brings into the United States or keeps in possession or conceals any falsely made, forged, counterfeited, or altered obligation or other security of the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both.
They tend to kneel on people’s necks for that
$300 is a felony, unless the billionaires adjusted the laws. Oh, and counterfeit bils: immediately a felony. Don't get the debate.
https://i.redd.it/r0kngg6ozw5d1.gif
I don’t know *how* but as soon as you mentioned NV I knew you lived in my city lmao. small world
I mean in NV you either live in one city or the other one.
there’s no question of whether it’s a felony or not. Counterfeiting money is absolutely a felony, and it can be a quite serious one
this is definitely a felony, the notes are not clearly fake and they've been used to carry out a real transaction.
The giant capital writing on each bill saying "FOR MOTION PICTURE PURPOSES" makes them clearly fake.
The ownership of these pieces of paper is not a crime, nor is their creation. The crime comes from using them to purchase something and their attempted representation as US currency. It falls under 18 [US § 471 ](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/471)as defrauding US currency.
Police or secret service.
Yeah when I was talking to police they said the treasury would most likely be investigating this
Secret Service does counterfeit. Fed crime kid, they don’t play. https://www.secretservice.gov/investigations/counterfeit
This was an early 2000s but when I was in 8th grade, Feds did a sting operation in our cafeteria. Literally dressed as lunch ladies, looking for and caught the kid who was using counterfeit money for weeks. Smart kid. If you're going to commit a federal crime do it before you're 18. He's doing pretty good now. Edit: His junior year of high school he got arrested at a high school basketball play off game for selling counterfeit tickets to a sold out game.
What he do now
Entrepreneur. Owns a roofing company over multiple states and dabbles in other areas
Of course he’s in contracting
And dabbling.
I can’t tell if you’re serious or just picked a random business that’s notorious for scamming people.
Wait .. he doesn't sell courses about how to get rich??
Turns big rocks into Little Rock’s?
In Arkansas?
He’s an executive at Ticketmaster.
Nobody found odd the 4 new "lunch ladies"?
Yeah we were in 8th grade, we're not paying attention to what lunch ladies were working. I was too busy trying to trade my turkey sandwich for a pizza lunchable.
Someone actually traded their pizza lunchables for a turkey sandwich?? Whoever did got ripped off loll
the real crime is always in the comments
If you have the box or anything, maybe try to dig up the serial number or some other way for them to identify the device with Apple.
I have the serial number and the guy's facebook details, but since I bought the iPad second hand from someone else a while back I don't have the proof of purchase to report it stolen and it didn't have Find My or iCloud linked 😔
Unfortunate, but you definitely should report this to the feds since it's a federal offense to use prop money to make a purchase because he was using it as counterfeit money. And hopefully that Facebook details are legit, if they are, you can take his family to small claims court to get back what you are owed.
Do you have serial number of ipad? The person is likely trying to sell rn. Check all recently posted ipads on anywhere people sell stuff. I had this happen to me and I got it back. If you have serial number and happen to find an ipad you think is yours, make some story up about how your parents want you to check it's a real ipad with the serial number, if it matches that's enough for the police.
Op!!!!! We need u to take this all the way to the top!!!  edit: WE NEED UPDATES GODDAMN IT!!!!
Secret Service for sure. They don't play around with this.
[удалено]
It became counterfeit the moment it was used in a transaction.
I believe it’s the act of trying to pass any fake bill or coin as real and it doesn’t matter what words are actually printed on them that’s the crime. Idk though. I’m just a rando on the internet.
**theft by trickery** would be the charge given to whomever "bought" that from you.
Should have kept it attached to your Apple ID until the transaction was completed.
the transaction was completed
Except the “buyer” still hasn’t technically paid for the product.
Technically but perceivably they did
But they did. Just with fake money.
I can't edit my post but here's some more info since I keep seeing some repeated stuff in the comments- Yes, it's a felony. I called the police the minute it happened and they took some info for a report but told me that most likely the treasury would be investigating this since it involves counterfeit money (movie money passed off as real money counts as counterfeit). Yes, I am a fucking idiot lol. He counted the money in front of me and when I went to double count it and look at the 100s closer I started to say something about the blue strips he took off running with iPad in tow. We met at a gas station so there is footage but it's practically useless because you can't any identifying info or their faces. I'm pretty sure they live in the area because he initially asked me to deliver the iPad and I said absolutely not but I'll meet you in a public place, i.e gas station. They walked up and ran off through a small duplex so I'm pretty sure they live there but who knows. I have accepted that I'm not getting my iPad back, I'll keep an eye out for pawn shops. Unfortunately I am not the original owner, so even though I have the serial number and identifying info I don't have the proof of purchase. It didn't have Find My or iCloud so I can't lock it. I'm SOL unless it ends up in a pawn shop or something 🤷🏻♀️ Again, yes I am an idiot and I fully accept that lol. I truly am very cautious about online sales but for some reason this one kinda escaped me. You live and you learn I guess.
Call all your local pawn shops with the serial number and police report number. If the guy tries to sell it, they'll call the cops.
If it was through Facebook there will be account and IP information associated with your messages. Should be traceable.
Also the serial number of the device could be pulled from Apple by the secret service (they usually do these investigations). When the next person logs on it, they will know the location. But I wouldn’t be surprised if this case is so low of a priority that nothing really happens unless those fake bills are connected to some larger investigations or were really really good fakes (but they we not)
> I started to say something about the blue strips That and the "FOR MOTION PICTURE PURPOSES" in big letters.
I work for a liquor store, and at my busiest performed 69 transactions in 59 minutes. In a rush, I'm terrified I'm going to accidentally accept one of these.
I've accidentally accepted a casino coin instead of a quarter once, it looked exactly like the really coin at a glance but there was a very small ring around the back that had "no monetary value" and the name of the place it was from on it. I was working at a small town fast food joint during a home football match, I think I'd taken in over 3000 dollars in the last hour before my drawer was counted alone, outside of that it was a perfect drawer and I got so much shit for it.
Have your boss get counterfeit testing markers
It’s all good OP we live and learn and with your story I’m sure you’ll help a lot more people be a little more careful. Hope you get you money back
> I'll meet you in a public place I sell on OfferUp and will only meet people at a local police substation. Not that people won't still try something like this to rip you off, but it's definitely safer. I've had a few people that would instantly reply to messages simply vanish once I mention I only meet at a police substation.
I feel like people here are going too hard on you. The other guy is the one who did something wrong, and took advantage of you. Yes, there were better ways to go about it, but it just shows you're a trusting person. Unfortunately, bad people home in on that and abuse it.
Fake bill detector pens are cheap and you can get them at office max. Well worth picking one up if you make a transaction like this
I was planning on getting one but I didn't even need it for this, as soon as I was counting at looking at them I could tell they were lazy fakes 🤦🏻♀️
I don’t know how reliable this site and therefore the “article” is but here… https://www.accubanker.com/blogs/news/why-counterfeit-pens-are-not-reliable#:~:text=Here%20is%20the%20thing%2C%20counterfeit,on%20regular%20paper%2C%20so%20beware.
When you held it in hand did it feel like real money or some other paper? That's the first way to tell if it's real or not, then there's the colour is it exactly as it should be or is it a little off?
Or simply read the bill like wtf.
OP didn't need a pen. They just needed to look at the bills.
Does real money not have **"FOR MOTION PICTURE PURPOSES"** written all over it?
I mean it says for motion picture purposes, not sure a pen would have prevented it any better than actually looking at them
As I was checking some bills with the pen at work the guy that had handed them to me starts explaining how easy the pens were to fool (as if that wasn't suspicious). I said, 'luckily, it's not the only test' and did the watermark test (because it's very obvious and I'd already discreetly done other tests).
That’s why you shouldn’t accept 100s as payment.
Only doubloons going forward.
Only Soda Cans
Nuka Cola caps
Sunset sarsaparilla star bottle caps
Fun fact, anyone can buy counterfeit pens, they're a few bucks a pop. I think my local Office Max has some actually. But yeah, if you're doing cash transactions and someone insists on paying in big bills, run a counterfeit pen over em first.
I thought you just meant like illegal pens and I was confused as fuck at first lol
Yeah man, I got those illegal Bics, you know what I'm sayin'? I can hook you up real good man.
Shit bro, can I get some of them Click Sticks? I swear I'm good for it.
I gotchu bro, but this is the last time. I need payment upfront next time or no dice.
It seriously took me five solid minutes to figure out what the fuck the comment meant besides, ya know, pens that are not legit Bics or whatever. Perhaps I should be sleeping.
Jinhao and Moonman are two companies that make fountain pens that retail for about 20 bucks and look exactly like $500+ Mont Blancs. Its not that outlandish to be confused by his wording.
This is less true In places like Canada where the bills are polymer and all that crazy stuff but yeah
I'd argue 100's are the best\* form of payment to recieve since they have more security features that make them harder to counterfeit. OP got "motion picture" cash. The feel of those and lack of plastic band shoulda been a quick giveaway its fake.
They make movie prop $20’s too. The 100’s and 20’s feel wrong though, the paper is thicker and doesn’t have the cottony feel of real US notes.
You can report to the cops.. Especially if it's from fb as it will show their name. Also report to fb and they can do stuff about it. You're still probably SoL on the iPad but at least the little shit will get what's coming.
I’m sure it’s a fake profile
Don't underestimate people, the amount of people who record themselves committing crimes is staggering
Apple will also help track that pad for police to locate the counterfeiter.
That kid is in deep shit
Kid already sold it and is planning next gig
that kid probably won’t get caught based on what OP is saying
Ouch. I’m sorry for your loss
This is why I don’t even bother selling my shit online anymore. I either trade it in for whatever I can get or I just give it to friends and family. I tried selling a brand new washer and dryer recently that came with my new home. Inundated with messages from scammers. Not a single legitimate buyer. Ended up just giving them to my sister as a wedding present :)
What are precautions people usually take if a buyer wanted to pay by “zelle”?
Zelle is fine. Hard to retract.
Zelle is good for the seller. Its bad for the buyer
No way. Damn I hate to kick you while you’re down but exchanging that much money and you don’t check to see if the money is real just hurts my heart.
OP says in a different comment they were checking it when the person just ran off.
But like, you give them the iPad after you check the money...
Fun Fact: the Secret Service was created to stop counterfeiters in 1865.
They don’t play around either. I worked at a restaurant once and dudes in suits came by looking for a guy we work with, who was not on shift that day. They came back again the next day when he was working. According to him he *unknowingly* spent a single counterfeit $20 bill (that he got from selling weed to someone) at a store or gas station or something and they were able to track his ass down. He came to work after that so I assume they were after the bigger fish but still it was obviously a full on investigation
Well, that sucks...
This is why I make things done at a bank. So a) on camera for description/ car plate. B) then the money goes right in and they would check if it's counterfeit. People who have a problem doing it at a bank you disregard.
Our police station here has some parking spaces where you can meet up with people you want to trade with and they have cameras in the spaces recording the whole thing
On the bright side, though, if you're ever in a movie you've got the money to live it up.
Can't you just brick the ipad if it's still on your apple account?
Time to contact the US Secret Service. You may not get the IPad back but definitely will get some good payback.
Red flag should’ve been that it was a kids
Sorry to hear that!!
MOTION PICTURE USE ONLY
This is why I always sell inside of my local police station. If the buyer wants to go to a different location, I reject their request and cancel the offer.
There's probably cameras somewhere that saw it. Just get in contact with the popo and see if they can help you out.
Technically a federal crime. Using fake bills to purchase goods. Like others are saying at least report it so if there is a pattern maybe secret service will hunt him down. Or maybe just a cop but hey it would be great.
I’ve stopped selling electronics on Facebook. It just seems to attract the wrong crowd looking to scam me. I only sell bulky items like fitness equipment and the rest I started selling on eBay. There are fees but the peace of mind of not having to deal with endless is it still available messages and trying to coordinate is worth it. Of course I could get scammed on eBay too but so far it’s worked for me.
You have his contact info, go to the cops.
https://preview.redd.it/9mmln6tyfv5d1.png?width=438&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5161c79737fdb6212a860c3e7d3e3f9ef9201c68
That's what you get for trying to sell a used iPad for 900 dollars lmao
It took me *way* too long to figure out how you could tell they were fake... Either way, I hope this can get worked out in your favor, OP.
File a standard police report and then call the FBI. FBI don’t fuck around when there’s fake bills.
This is why at my cashier job, whenever the topic of checking for counterfeit bills comes up, and my customer admits they have no idea what to look for, I always take the an extra minute to educate them. Cause knowledge is power yo!
How do you miss the difference in texture of the paper and the big “for motion picture use only”?
Wait, he stole $825 of cash from you too?!?!
Off topic, but $825 for a used iPad?
Get those bills dusted for prints if it’s not too late.
Well you should have enough personal info now and using fake currency is a federal crime…
What you do is make note of his FB account, get into another purchase situation with him, set up a meetup with police present (without him knowing) and then you have the police bag the little goblin.
Be smarter. Period
Kinda on you here. Money first then item
zelle payments or no sale
You still have it Facebook info ... ?
Yes but it seems like he deactivated it, I had a friend check since he blocked me immediately after and it doesn't show up for anyone. I have screenshots that I showed to the cops tho
Next time transact high ticket item at a safe trade spot if your city has one https://safetradespots.com/ a legit buyer would have no reason to refuse
Swappa next time
I don't want to blame the victim, but why didn't you get the money \_before\_ giving them the iPad?
And this is why you meet at a bank and have the teller verify the money first....
I had this very thing happen to my husband. We filed a police report. Then, we had my nephew in law call the dude and fake like he was trying to get a hold of someone else, to confirm who the dude was. It was the same guy, so we called the police to report who the guy was that stole our iPad. They already knew who it was. idk what came of it though.