Police were investigating the incident, which was just the latest case of bogus money showing up at City Hall.
The U.S. Secret Service investigates counterfeit money cases, and the Dayton Police Department collects the counterfeit money and any relevant information and secures the evidence to hand over to federal law enforcement, a city spokesperson said.
On Feb. 2, Dayton police were called to the city’s treasury department at 101 W. Third St.
Police met with the department manager about a 59-year-old female customer who paid a water bill for a home in the Crown Point area with a $50 bill.
City staff said they later noticed the bill felt weird to the touch. The employee checked the bill with a special pen and the mark turned brown, indicating the bill was fake.
RELATED: Dayton water bill paid with fake money
On Feb. 12, Dayton police were called to the city’s business office at 101 W. Third St. about counterfeit money.
Staff at the office received three counterfeit $20 bills from a different 59-year-old female customer who was paying her water bill.
Staff confiscated the money and called police. The customer said she did not know how she ended up with the fake money.
She told police she got the bills from either an ATM machine at a liquor store on North Main Street or at a market on the west side of the city.
Three days later, police responded to the city water department in regards to someone trying to pay a water bill with a fake $10 bill. A white male tried to pay the water account of a home in the Dayton View Triangle area.
He gave the clerk $107. But staff checked the money using a money marker, and a $10 bill turned brown, indicating it was counterfeit, a police report states. Police attempted to contact the man, but were unsuccessful.
RELATED: $100 counterfeit bill used at UDF
About 40 percent of water bill payments to the city are paid in cash at the treasury window at City Hall, according to city data.
In 2017, the city’s finance department processed nearly 29,000 cash transactions totalling $3.7 million, the city said.
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