LAKE MARY, Fla. — If you’re a small business owner in Lake Mary, you might want to double-check that $50 bill before making change.
Over the past few weeks, at least six local shops—including SoBol, Bronx House Pizza, and an Ice Spot ice cream shop on Wheelhouse Lane have been targeted by suspects using convincing counterfeit $50 bills to buy cheap items… then walking away with real cash.
The scam is simple: pay $50 for a $10 smoothie or pizza slice, take the change, and leave. In one case, the suspect didn’t even wait for his order. He walked out as soon as he got his money back.
SoBol owner Jeff Busick showed me surveillance footage on his phone of the moment it happened at his acai and smoothie shop on December 16.
“He just walks out without the product—because he already got his change,” Busick said.
Minutes earlier, a woman had done the exact same thing at the same store. Both bills were fake.
“It’s upsetting,” Busick told me. “I get up every day to run my business and go home to my family and there are people out there doing this to us.”
What’s especially concerning? The fake bills are good enough to pass a quick glance. But under a counterfeit pen or UV light, they give themselves away.
Lake Mary Police say the investigation is active and they’ve already made progress.
And it’s not just one business feeling the pinch.
“At $12 a smoothie, it takes three sales just to cover that $50 loss,” Busick explained. “Every dollar counts when you’re a small shop.”
If you’re a customer? Keep an eye out. If someone pays with a large bill for a small item and seems in a hurry to leave especially if they don’t wait for their purchase it could be a red flag.
For now, local owners are staying alert, checking every bill, and hoping this scam stops before it spreads further.
WFTV is working to confirm additional details with the Lake Mary Police Department. Anyone with information is urged to contact authorities.
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