Last week, Haines had its first counterfeit cash report of the year.

“Once it was pointed out that it was fake, it was kind of obvious,” Rachael Pattison said of the counterfeit $100, which she learned was a fake after a friend tried to use it to purchase groceries. “(The counterfeit) had a different feel to it… and on the back it had some Chinese writing that you’d have to look for to notice.”

After having the bank verify the bill was fake, Pattison turned it over to the Haines Borough Police Department.

Counterfeit bills are fairly uncommon in Haines, according to police chief Heath Scott.

“Off the cuff, we maybe see this type of money being passed once or twice a year, typically around cruise ship season,” Scott said, and the amounts are usually quite small, below a level that would interest the federal government.

Texture is one of the primary ways to tell a fake bill from a real one, according to materials published by the federal government’s U.S. Currency Education Program, which seeks to raise awareness about the security features on bills. Real U.S. currency will feel slightly rough to the touch because of the raised printing.

Other security features that distinguish real currency from counterfeits include: the watermark and security thread, visible when a bill is held to the light; color-changing ink in the numbers in the lower right corner that shifts from copper to green when a bill is tilted; and microprinted words, and small red and blue threads that are visible under magnification.

“I’m not sure exactly how (the fake bill) came into my possession,” Pattison said. Both her clothing business and the jobs she’s held waiting tables involve cash payments. She said it’s possible the money had been in her possession for some time before she gave the bill to her friend.

Pattison said though unpleasant, the experience has taught her to examine the cash she receives more carefully.

“It would have been better to learn this lesson with a twenty,” Pattison said, “But now I’m going to pay more attention.”

More information about counterfeit currency identification is available at http://www.uscurrency.gov.