Benjamin Franklin’s image hasn’t been this controversial since his nudist days.

For more than a year now, counterfeit $100 bills have been circulating throughout Carbondale, said Officer Randy Mathis of the Carbondale Police Department. Within the past few weeks, the counterfeit money has become so widespread that some businesses have refused to take $100 bills.

Counterfeit bills were reported from various locations around Carbondale in November. Mathis said once a case is investigated, the investigation is turned over to the U.S. Secret Service.

Sam Nasar, owner of Wise Guys Pizza and Sam’s Caf’eacute;, has had some run-ins with the phony money before and said someone tried to pass off a fake $100 bill as recently as the Sunday before Thanksgiving break.

Nasar and his brother, Kamal, spotted the fake bill after a regular customer tried to pass the bill off at both locations.

“My brother said, ‘This is a bad one, we have to take it,’ and called the police, but I don’t think any arrest happened,” Sam Nasar said.

Given the customer’s regularity at the store, Nasar said he did not believe the customer was aware the bill was false. Nasar said before that incident, the last time someone had attempted to purchase food with a fake $100 was five years ago.

“I didn’t know about it; it looked real,” Nasar said. “I would think working in a restaurant for so long I would know what a fake looks like.”

Tammy Wooley, an employee at the Egyptian Corner Gas Station, said she knows of several incidents in which customers tried to use counterfeit money in her year of employment at the gas station, with the most recent one occurring two weeks ago.

“It’s happened about three times since I’ve been working here,” Wooley said.

Mathis said some of the bills may have been bleached and then had their denominations changed. This would potentially fool a counterfeit detection pen, since these pens only verify the authenticity of the paper used.

If you have received a counterfeit bill, federal law states there is no reimbursement for returning a counterfeit bill to authorities.

For weeks now, area McDonald’s locations have posted signs on their front doors stating they would no longer accept any bills larger than $50.

Lynn Petzoldt, a spokesman for Short Enterprises, which owns the McDonald’s on East Main Street, said the restaurant would be lifting the ban today and start accepting $100 bills.

“We feel it’s safe now,” Petzoldt said.

Any person with information regarding counterfeit money is encouraged to call the Carbondale Police at 457-3200.

David Lopez can be reached at 536-3311 ext. 273 or at [email protected].