Eureka Police are trying to identify a man who allegedly attempted to use counterfeit $100 bills to add money to a Chime account Visa debit card at Walmart, 131 Eureka Towne Center Drive. The man allegedly gave an employee five $100 bills that appeared to be fake and five real $100 bills, police reported.
The man was seen in surveillance video wearing a black do-rag on his head, a blue surgical mask over his mouth, a black jacket and ripped blue jeans. He appeared to leave the store parking lot in a Nissan Altima, Eureka Police reported.
The man went to the Walmart service desk at about 6:40 p.m. March 25 and said he wanted to put $1,000 on the debit card. He gave the employee 10 $100 bills, the report said.
The employee told police five of the bills were the newer-style $100 bills and five were the older-style $100 bills. He told police the color didn’t look correct on the older bills, so he used a money marker to check the bills, according to the report.
The employee told police the marker indicated all the bills were real, but the older-style bills had $10 security strips. The employee said he told the customer he couldn’t complete the transaction because half of the money was counterfeit, Eureka Police reported.
The employee said the suspect said the money was real and demanded the money back. The employee said he returned the five newer-style $100 bills that appeared to be real but kept the older-style bills, and then the customer left the store with the five newer-style bills, Eureka Police reported.
As of April 7, the customer has not been identified, Lt. Michael Werges said. He also said the fake bills were turned over to the Secret Service.