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The Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office is currently investigating the use of counterfeit money within the county.

According to investigators, a $100 bill was used to purchase items at a Dollar General Store in the county last week.

Investigators say that the fake bill was noticed when store employees took it to the bank to deposit.

Anyone who receives a counterfeit bill is urged to contact the sheriff’s office at (434) 542-5141.

HOW TO SPOT A COUNTERFEIT BILL

One of the first things to check to see if a bill is authentic is if the bill denomination on the bottom right-hand corner has color-shifting ink.

Going back to 1996, all bills of $5 or more have this security feature. If you hold a new series bill (except for the new $5 bill) and tilt it back and forth, you can see that the numeral in the lower right-hand corner shifts from green to black or from gold to green.

The watermark is a characteristic security feature of authentic banknotes.

Here are some things to keep in mind when looking at a bill’s watermark:

• The watermark should only be visible when you hold the bill up to the light.

• The watermark should be on the right side of the bill.

• If the watermark is a face, it should exactly match the face on the bill. Sometimes counterfeits bleach lower bills and reprint them with higher values, in which case the face wouldn’t match the watermark.

• If there is no watermark or the watermark is visible without being held up to the light, the bill is most likely a counterfeit.

Other ways to tell if a bill may be counterfeit include the feel of the paper, raised printing, and blurred lines and wording.