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Source: Huntsville man on mission to warn local business owners about counterfeit bills | WHNT.com

Bob Wilson

 

There are hypothesis:

• < 5% - teller putting money in envelope substituted a bogus $50 and when I transfered bills to wallet, I didn't detect it.
• > 95% - gas station attendant took pre-pay $50 and while house keeper filling with gas, substituted bogus bill, and then called it. Had the bill been confiscated and police called, the clerk would have been suspect but they used this opportunity to 'thieve' our house keeper. She should have called the police, problem solved.
• < 1% - housekeeper decided 'taking' $50 was better than 'asking'.
• << 1% - old fat guy who recorded buying the $50 bill and has on an SD card; having traveled around two three small business owners and the WHNT news station and presented to owners/managers as a training aid, so; he could have a cute story show up in local news (*).

Bob Wilson

* - In 1974, a staff sergeant and I were tasked with making a course about about Job Control Language (something no one living today should EVER have to deal with!) We covered how JCL commands could be entered in the card reader, a failover mechanism in case the primary console failed. With an "N" in card column 72, the command would execute but not show up in the system log. One of commands was:

"$CJ<number | range>,<number | range>

Example, $CJ1-999,1-999, kills all jobs running and all output, the 'exlax' command​

For a day and a half I was walking around smiling, smug that I could 'revenge' at any time. But I was walking down the hall and another Marine was in a hurry the other way. "What's up?" I asked.

"The computer has a problem and we're going to have to see if we can avoid a reboot." . . . and my smug was wiped out.

The way they operated the computer, it was always going down. These people were already their own worst enemy and the more interesting problem is to keep it up.

So I went to the Gunnery Sergeant in charge and showed him the 'exlax' card. He couldn't believe it so I put in a dummy job on hold and without the "N", canceled it . . . it worked. He had me 'go tell systems' and they said,'Ok, it is not a problem.' And as their door clicked shut, I realized "Oh sh*t!"

I was the guy who figured out the 'exlax' card, told my supervisor and then the systems people. If anyone else decided to do a little 'creative destruction,' I would be the chief suspect . . . like having a bogus $50 on my person.

So as follow-up to the JCL training, I made sure everyone knew about and avoid the 'exlax' card . . . it took 2-3 months before it showed up. By then everyone in the unit knew about it and knew I'd made sure every shift supervisor, their technical lead, and everyone else did too. But I was safe because I'd already been warning about it.

Using the bogus $50 as a training aid at local businesses and turning it in calling it bogus gave me immunity . . . except perhaps from detective Vizzini.

 

I was at one of my local places and an old guy with a veteran's 'grab me' cap was disappointed because he could not get a Navy color guard for his deceased buddy. So I suggested he visit the local Marine Reserve unit since the Marines are part of the Navy. He thought it a good idea and left. No idea what happened.

My dad's ashes were buried in Arlington and those folks have the business in cold. Very professional, that is where Mom's ashes will go. But I remember coming back from Okinawa and my Dad had bought a set of 'dress blues.' I thanked my Dad but said I couldn't use them because if my unit knew I had dress blues, I would be volunteered for every special memorial and funeral in the DC area, my next duty station.

I always hated formations but sad to say, was the subject of one on Okinawa, 'Letter of Commendation', and HQ when getting out, a 'Beneficial Suggestion Award' ($600 check in 1974 ... from the Marines!) If you never served, you don't understand and only a sailor would understand how 'tight with a dollar' the Marines are.

Bob Wilson

 

They got'em:
Madison Co. Sheriff&#8217;s deputies bust multi-state counterfeit currency ring | WHNT.com

Bob Wilson

 

Timeline:

• Thursday, Aug 13 - paid house keeper including a tip for her good work
• Monday, Aug 17 - crooks are arrested ... no press release or news articles
• Tuesday, Aug 18 - after working the day, she identifies it as a bogus $50 gotten from 'Jet' gas station. I had paid her so I decided to buy the bogus $50
• Wednesday, Aug 19 - I left bogus $50 on dressing table, a busy work day. That evening, the $50 becomes a training aid and I stop by WHNT, interest but no news editor on duty. Their news department meets the next day and they will 'let me know.'
• Thursday, Aug 20 - I go to work with bogus $50 in shirt pocket. Shortly after 10 AM, WHNT calls and records interview over lunch hour. At my 1 PM staff meeting, I show supervisor the bogus $50. Afterwards, I turn it over to Redstone Federal Credit Union.
  • The teller wasn't sure what to do if someone comes in and tells them,'This is a bogus $50, can you handle it?' Even the supervisor didn't think to write down my identification but she did write down my account number at my prompting. I just wish she hadn't written it on a blank deposit slip <SHESH!>
• Friday, Aug 21 - WHNT has some follow-up questions and I let the section manager know there is an article coming ('I work on the principle of no surprises.')
• Monday, Aug 24 - WHNT story comes out and there is an evening broadcast the section manager sees at the health club
• Tuesday, Aug 25 - Madison County Sheriff calls press conference and we learn of Aug 17 arrests . . . the WHNT update story includes a brief shot of me and the bogus $50. They also publish pointers on how to detect bogus bills and the 'procedure.'
  • Apparently I was supposed to turn it over to law enforcement. But I wanted my bank, Redstone Federal Credit Union, to have and see the bogus $50 since it wasn't clear at the time that anyone knew about the counterfeit bills.

Hindsight is always 20/20 but people have to make choices in real time. I try to use humor but it doesn't always work. Huntsville AL is the largest town one should want to live in . . . a Southern thang you wouldn't understand it.

Bob Wilson

 

"Men and nations behave wisely when they have exhausted all other resources." - Abba Eban, March 1967.

The four arrested are not the type of characters one would think swift enough to pull this off by themselves. I get the impression of a 'franchise' that set these characters up in business:

. . .
"If you look at it, they did put some effort into it," Salomonsky said.

The Madison County Sheriff's Office currently has 19 open counterfeiting cases, the investigator said, and some of those arrested last week are suspects in those cases. He said their arrests could potentially clear up multiple cases.

The investigation into the counterfeiting ring remains open and additional arrests are a possibility. ​

Source: Traffic stop in Madison County leads to arrests in $100,000 counterfeit cash ring | AL.com

There was another case 50 miles away earlier this year:
$400 in counterfeit money seized after Craigslist fraud - WAFF-TV: News, Weather and Sports for Huntsville, AL

Apparently the printer is fairly common along with video editing software to make this a little too easy:
Woman With Printer Shows the Digital Ease of Bogus Cash - Bloomberg Business

Bob Wilson