Police: 'Movie money' being used to defraud Florida retailers

JENSEN BEACH, Fla. — The “money” looks real and feels real, but to the right of Benjamin Franklin’s head, the $100 bill reads, “For motion picture use only.”

Despite the warning, a manager at Forever 21 at the Treasure Coast Square in Jensen Beach was fooled Wednesday by the $100 bill someone used to pay for $93.81 worth of women’s clothing and accessories, the Martin County Sheriff’s Office said. It was the fifth recent case of the “movie money” being used at county retailers.

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Deputies arrested the teenager suspected in the Forever 21 fraud case when managers at another chain store contacted authorities and said he tried to purchase $400 worth of merchandise with the fake bills.

A manager at the Forever 21 store told the Post on Friday that another manager took the counterfeit money. She said the scammers, a young male and  young female who looked to be about 16 or 17 years old, were purchasing items such as a bodysuit, fake eyelashes and an eyelash curler.

She said the bill appeared to be real, aside from the label saying it was for movies only, and she hadn’t seen the “movie money” used previously in the store.

The store has a machine to check for counterfeit money, but it wasn’t working at the time of that purchase, the manager said.

Deputies withheld the name of the teen apprehended in the fraud cases at the mall.

Other cases include using fake $20 bills as well as well as $100s.

The Sheriff’s Office encouraged retailers in the area to make their employees aware of the fake bills being circulated.

Cox Media Group