December 9, 2008

Giver drops fake $100 on Salvation Army

Salvation Army members in South Carolina were happy when someone dropped a $100 bill in their kettle until they realized it was counterfeit.

Whenever we receive $100 bills there's a big woo-hoo among staff, Maj. Paul Egan told WXII-TV in Greenville. That high feeling fell fast as soon as we determined this Ben Franklin was a fake because we knew we had less money to do our job.

Egan said a counterfeit bill is unusual, but the Salvation Army is used to getting everything from buttons to foreign coins in the kettles. He said some donors also fold regular bills into origami.

The Salvation Army hopes to raise $200,000 from its Red Kettle appeal in Greenville during the holiday season. Egan plans to keep the counterfeit $100 bill in hopes that someone will replace it with a genuine one.