Anchorage police revealed on Wednesday that they had made an arrest of a man passing counterfeit bills in the midtown area and are pointing out what to be on the lookout for when exchanging and/or accepting paper currency.

Police responded to the Cafe Darte Expresso located at the ChangePoint Church off of Raspberry Street at 11:39 am on Sunday after learning that a man had walked up to the stand and asked the barista for the tip jar. When the barista brought out the tip jar, the man, later identified as 42-year-old Wanderson Lopes, “placed a $10 bill inside of it but asked for $5 in return which the barista gave him,” APD reported.

But, afterward, the barista checked the $10 bill and found that it felt funny and had the words “only for motion picture purposes” inscribed on it. She called in the fake money to APD.

When officers arrived, they arrested Lopes and placed him in the patrol car for transport. As he was being transported, his behavior became animated and started calling the officers names and refusing commands to settle down, all the while moving around in the back seat of the vehicle.

The officers pulled over, and when a cover unit arrived, took Lopes from the vehicle and transferred him. That was when the officers found several counterfeit bills by the door where Lopes had been sitting.

Lopes was transported to the Anchorage Jail where he was remanded on charges of Felony Forgery I.[xyz-ihs snippet=”Adsense-responsive”]Police are alerting the public that there has been an uptick in the circulation of fake bills as of late in the Anchorage area and warn the public to be on the lookout. APD has released images of some of the fake bills that have been found in circulation. They report that a variety of bills have been located. Some with Turkish writing, some with Chinese writing, and some with the words “motion picture” on them.

APD requests that the public take an extra moment to check any currency that you may be given. APD has also released an online guide provided by the secret service titled, “Know Your Money“(PDF) to assist in identifying counterfeit currency.

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