I'm hesitant to post this, but I figure this affects all of us one way or another.
The other day I walked into my local bank, a nice small bank where everyone knows each other and greets each other on a first-name basis. After concluding my transaction with the teller, I asked him, "Just out of curiosity, why don't I ever hear about counterfeit money anymore? It used to be in the news once or twice a week, but now I never hear about it anymore. Is counterfeit money no longer a problem?"
He looked at me with a shocked look. All conversation in the bank lobby stopped. Dead silence, no smiles. All the bank employees and customers were looking at me. The teller chose his words carefully. He said, "If you said that in a bank where people don't know you, an alarm would be activated, and you would probably be interviewed by the police before you left the building." He continued, "Counterfeit money is a HUGE problem for us. It's because of the economy."
I was completely surprised by what he said. I said, "I'm sorry, I had no idea" and after an embarrassed pause, I said goodbye. I was expecting to have a typical light conversation, but obviously it had turned into something quite different.
I wonder who ultimately pays the price for counterfeit money -- do our local businesses "lose the money" when they try to deposit it at the bank, or do the businesses and banks get reimbursed by the FDIC?
I had no idea this was such a big problem.
_