HONOLULU (KHON2) Counterfeit cash is circulating through Hawaii, while Honolulu police data shows forgery cases are up in 2025.
A local business owner who got burned and wants others to be on the lookout.
A fake $100 bill — apparently made by bleaching a $1 bill and reprinting it with $100 markings — was recently passed to a longtime local business owner.
“And I had a couple other girls in here at the same time, so I didn’t really closely look at the $100, which if I would have did that I could it probably prevented it,” said Kevin Costello, Siam Imports owner.
Costello has owned Siam Imports for 28 years and will be closing up shop at the end of July.
“I’m so used to having good customers coming through my shop over the years that I get lackadaisical ago, sometimes,” he said.
Honolulu police data shows counterfeiting and forgery in 2025 has spiked 16.5% compared to the same time in 2024.
“We’re seeing more and more of these bleaching of dollar bills, and then they’re being printed with 50 or 100 on them,” said Retail Merchants of Hawaii President Tina Yamaki.
Experts said to always check if the blue strip on $100 dollar bills really is a hologram instead of a sticker. The pen to check counterfeits did not work for Costello.
“It still feels kind of like a paper bill because you’re still using the same, you know, paper. It’s like if you throw money through the wash. Right? It still feels like a bill, but we’re seeing a lot more people now holding it up to the light, finding out that the pens don’t always work,” Yamaki said.
Both retail experts and affected businesses gave the advice to take the extra time to really get a look at those bigger bills since counterfeiting and forgery crime is on the rise in Honolulu.
“Just to be a little bit more vigilant when you are taking money. Even if your lines are long, be sure that you check your bills thoroughly,” Yamaki said.
“Take the extra couple seconds, actually, all it would’ve took,” Costello said. “And hopefully by you guys doing this report, it prevents someone else from getting, taken by those same people or a group of people or whatever.”
The U.S. Secret Service website shows there are at least nine different indicators to tell if a $100 bill is fake, click here for more information.
