Counterfeit $100 Bills on Rise in Brookfield, West Milwaukee

Cases of counterfeit money are on the rise, as Brookfield police work with West Milwaukee and Milwaukee police on recent cases of bleached $5 bills turned into fake $100s.

Brookfield police took two more cases of counterfeit cash last week — from Office Max and Arby's restaurant. Those and two prior cases were at businesses located near the area of North 124th Street and Capitol Drive.

"There seems to be an upswing in counterfeit cases," Brookfield Police Capt. Jim Adlam said.

The culprits sometimes evade detection because a special pen used to determine if a bill is fraudulent only detects bills that are not actual currency. In these cases the currency is real, just bleached to change the amount.

A manager at , 12575 W. Capitol Dr., called Brookfield police Thursday morning to turn over two fake $100 bills. One case, caught on video, showed a black female with pink hair paying with the bill about 2:30 p.m. Oct. 12.

The serial number on that bill matched the serial number on another fake $100 bill passed at Office Max on Wednesday, according to police reports. West Milwaukee police also alerted area police departments about the same serial number on fraud cases in their community.

On Friday, at 12630 W. Capitol Dr., reported that two black females had paid with a counterfeit $100 bill. Again, the bill was tied to cases in West Milwaukee and other communities, reports say.

Other recent counterfeit cases in Brookfield include:

• A fake $50 bill was passed Oct. 12 at , 3845 N. 124th St., by two teenage girls who bought two sandwiches and drove away in a black Jaguar.
• Two fake $100 bills with same serial number were passed at , 12735 W. Capitol Dr. on Sept. 17 and 19.