By Sean Fitz-Gerald
The Ryerson Games Room received its first lesson in creative accounting last Friday when a phony $20 bill was passed off by an unidentified man.
The clever counterfeit crook walked into the games room with the bill, apparently seeking change. Instead, he asked for two $5 bills and $10, then immediately made a beeline for the doors.
The transaction aroused the suspicion of games room attendant Kevin Drysdale, who called his boss.
“I ripped the corner off the bill, and it was definitely not the paper a Canadian bill is printed on,” said Michael Durrant, communications and services manager for RyeSAC.
“This was the first time I believe someone tried to deliberately pass it [phony money] off,” he said.
After a brief chase, Durrant and Drysdale called security and the police.
Const. John Mills answered the call.
“I wouldn’t have known it [the bill] was counterfeit,” Mills said, referring to the quality of the bill.
He said all counterfeit bills usually have the same serial number, but he had to run the number of this particular bill through the computer at Headquarters.
Mills said it’s very difficult to determine the source of these fake bills.
“We forwarded all of it [counterfeit information] to the fraud squad and try to get to the source of these things,” he said, “We’ll get a description is it’s the same guy who passes them out.”
Durrant said that counterfeit bills have been discovered in RyeSAC operations in the past — most noticeably in the annual used book runs.
“I think he [Drysdale] thinks it’s his fault, he feels really bad,” said Durrant.
“It’s the first time it’s every happened to me,” Drysdale said, “it’s just one of those stupid things.”
Leave a Reply