Found a $100 Bill

TigersFan2

A couple of weeks ago, I was walking in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. It was evening and dark with only the lights from nearby businesses. Down in a puddle I saw a $100 bill. I picked it up and put it in my pocket, thinking I'm a very lucky person. Cambodia uses the U.S. dollar as it's most common currency for every day business transactions, so finding U.S. currency in itself isn't odd. It's everywhere.

When my wife and I got into the restaurant where there was light, I pulled the $100 bill out of my pocket to look at it... an obvious counterfeit. It was printed with a laser printer from an obvious scan of a real $100 bill. Both sides were there. Someone would have to be a complete idiot to be handed this and think it's real.

Anyway, it's probably illegal that I brought it home with me, despite it being a poor quality counterfeit. I want to keep it and remove any legal liability I have in doing so. If I get a permanent red or black marker and write "COPY" on each side of it in a conspicuous place, would that make it legal to possess?

I will destroy it if marking it "COPY" isn't a legal remedy.

Thanks.

Maxcrusha

if you dont tell anyone, or post it in a public forum then no one knows you own it

TigersFan2

Originally posted by: Maxcrusha
if you dont tell anyone, or post it in a public forum then no one knows you own it

Maybe the question I posted is a complete lie.

Tookybandit

I agree w/ Max. Enjoy it but keep it to yourself as they say. Definitely write copy on it, or better yet counterfeit. Not worth a family member, with not so great vision, trying to spend it accidentally!

mp3j

I collect these if they are circulated. All denominations. My 100s are stamped and punch-cancelled. I still need a current colorized 100.

TigersFan2

Originally posted by: mp3j
I collect these if they are circulated. All denominations. My 100s are stamped and punch-cancelled. I still need a current colorized 100.

Given the questionable legal nature of this counterfeit bill that I don't legally admit to possessing, I'm not interested in selling it which would entrust it to the USPS which could be a Federal crime. But the counterfeit is of such poor quality, you can easily make one just like it with a scanner, a real $100 bill and a color laser printer.

During my 7 days in Cambodia, I scrutinized every $1 and $5 bill I would get back in change, expecting that someone would try to pass some counterfeit bills to me. No one did. I would expect that it would be quite easy to use counterfeit bills there and that there would be quite a few in circulation.

When I was in Ecuador about a dozen years ago, I remember an entrance to a tourist place had probably a dozen counterfeit U.S. bills taped up inside the window. Ecuador uses the U.S. dollar as it's official currency. Some of them were quite bad, yet someone tried to use them.