Before driving to the farm yesterday, I needed to fill up the tank. Ever noticed how much the price of fuel fluctuates considering the barrel price doesn't? At the moment the price per liter in Finland is around 1.55€ ($1.73), or for those in the US, that is $6.54 per gallon. Interesting considering barrel prices are relatively low.
Anyway, yesterday while I was filling up the car my wife was inside the service station and just after I finished, a guy pulled into the bowser next to me and then asked if I could pay for his fuel because the machines no longer take cash, holding up a 10€ note. I am a decent citizen and said sure, but I am also a Steemian so I heard scam, but for 10€ I was willing to take the risk.
So, I paid for the fuel at the pump with the 10 in hand and felt that it was very slightly off in texture, but it could be my imagination considering that I was already on guard. But once I got out of sight, I noticed that the line of one side was uneven and it had been cut. What are the chances? I said to the guy, that this isn't cool and he wanted the 10 back - I don't think so.
I got back in the car drove and parked and went into the station with my daughter as they have a machine to test if it is counterfeit or not. And, I have the license plate of the car.
It passed the machine test.
Weird.
My wife had another ten note on her and I compared them together and there still seems something off about this one, so I will take it into the police to see. Obviously, it isn't the 10 dollar value of it but I am curious to know if my spidey senses were working correctly. Of course, it could just very well be coincidence as notes get cut and damaged in various ways all the time and as long the vitals are clear, it is still legal tender.
What would be super interesting is if it is indeed a counterfeit note and the machine at the service station that they use for notes from a 20€ up wasn't accurate. The government and especially the banks would be seething if they were allowing counterfeit notes into circulation because, it is their job to create inflation and earn upon it to further the cause of the global debt cycle.
The things that made me pay more attention were:
- People in Finland don't ask strangers to pay for petrol
- Everyone carries a card
- Almost no one carries cash
- This all seemed normal for the guy
- The car while not new wasn't old and in a 4wd, 10 doesn't get it far
- 10€ notes don't get checked by the machines in stores
- Then of course, when he wanted the 10 back again
If it is a fake, I have the number plate of the guy and the service station should have camera footage.
Likely, it is just my imagination yet the exercise of it is worth my effort just for interest sake. I think that these days we tend not to spend that much time being aware of our surroundings and as a result, it is much easier to take advantage of people in various ways. Trustless systems, immutability and traceability are gong to be required just because so few of us pay attention anymore - nor understand much about people as we lose the ability to read face to face circumstances due to all the screen interaction and disconnection.
If it isn't a fake - I might use it to buy something that can't be faked and 10€ will currently get me 44 STEEM. It cost me 287 STEEM to fill up my car, and it only has a 40 liter tank. Live off Steem? :D
Taraz
[ a Steem original ]
we had a pen at the shop where I worked and were to test any bill 20 or larger-by marking it - and if it turned a certain color it was fake - I never got one. Also , the gas station is one place where scammers do function so watch out for them @angrytwin
Yeah, they have to have electronic machines everywhere here and they test a lot. I hear the pens aren't 100% accurate - but I have never seen one.
Sketchy! I had someone once try to pay in counterfeits but these were blatant. Thankfully they were just 1’s and he got rejected lol
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Yeah, it was pretty dodgy but interesting at the same time so I rolled with it :)
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To stake a fake
Or
That one time I stole €10 from a dude at a gas station
;)
:D
I did pay for his gas with my card ;D
Busted. I didn’t pick that up :D
I will make it
BOLD
next time.
I got a $100 bill at work from an international traveler and it was super old but still crisp and new looking. It DID NOT have any sort of security strip or a watermark but the paper was legit (blue and red cotton fibers that are impossible to mimic). My boss was too scared to take it just in case it was fake so I had to keep it as part of my cash out for the night.
My ATM wouldnt even accept it as a deposit since it was the old style bill so I gave it to a cashier to break for me. He tested it with a pen and everything was good to go! I tried looking up these bill to find out where they were coming from and it believe it was from Europe, likely France, as part of some sort of USD cash reserves. They only started adding the security thread in 1990 and the watermarks in 1996...
This was € so none of it is very old. In Australia (where I am from) they have plastic notes with transparencies and a thousand security features. I believe they are pretty hard to counterfeit.
Some of those sentences are harsher than for murder by the looks.
Yeah they don't play around when it comes to money. Imagine what they would do to the guy who created Bitcoin!
Seen or heard from Satoshi lately?
Like the way you sum everything up in steem value.
Since it passed the machine test, chances of it being a fake is relatively low though
Yep, it is very low so it is possible just a serious of coincidences. Still fun to find out. I wonder if it is counterfeit, I am pretty sure there is a reward - how much Steem that is I don't know :)
There’s one for you too! Just a little flag from @thetimidmarky-bot! Thanks for stopping by!
Nice article, i like the thumbnail! 👍Pay for his fuel, wow that’s a fist! I don’t think anyone has ever even asked me that one before!! Pretty good though, you got me reading more! Keep up the good work! Sounds like some kind of scam to me, I’m tuning in later to find out fosho!👍
When I was in LA I had people paying me with counterfeit bills all the time! I actually spent them at the liquor store. One day the lady jumped across the counter lunging at me screaming:
I ran out the store and jumped into my Caddilac and never looked back! That was the last time I tried to spend counterfeit bills again! I used to be a little hoodlum sometimes! Not any more though! The fake bills feel papery, thicker!
Yeah, if this is a fake it is pretty good but, it is just a tiny bit too smooth I think. Will see when I have a chance to go down to the station.
There is a higher probability it is not a fake, most people are good at heart, fewer people are scammers than you would think! You would have to be really lucky for it to be a fake, would add more value to the next story/post anyway - if it is? - cheers!