The Starbucks on North Jacob Drive on the west side of Bloomington reported two counterfeit $100 bills to the Bloomington Police Department in the past two and a half weeks.
Another fake bill was used at the Subway on North Kinser Pike on Monday.
A customer paid for a Starbucks beverage Feb. 19 with a $100. Employees did not notice the bill was fake and gave the woman her change and drink.
They later discovered the bill was counterfeit when it didn't pass any of the store’s tests.
The woman who paid with the fake bill was described to police by employees as black, 5 foot 8 and skinny. She had blonde hair and a tattoo of a cross under her eye.
A man paid for two footlong sandwiches Monday at Subway with a fake $100 bill, according to police. The employee who cashed him out checked the bill with a pen used to detect counterfeiting.
The bill passed the pen’s test, but it was identified as counterfeit when the money was brought to the bank.
BPD Capt. Steve Kellams said police believe the same man tried to use a counterfeit $100 to buy a beverage Tuesday at the Starbucks on North Jacob Drive.
He was black and 6 feet tall with a thin build, according to the report. He had a short goatee and was wearing a denim jacket and white hat at the time of the incident.
The same Starbucks employee was working during both counterfeit attempts. The employee immediately noticed the bill was fake, BPD Capt. Steve Kellams said.
Kellams said the bill used by the man at Starbucks had the same identifying markers as the one used at Subway.
Police are investigating all three counterfeiting incidents.
