Karen Lavallee said counterfeit money just feels different. As a general manager at Zaxby’s in Carrollton, Lavallee said she has seen numerous counterfeit bills, especially in recent months.

“In the last six to eight months, it has been highly more likely,” she said. “And now it is with smaller denominations you wouldn’t normally check.”

As an extra precaution, Lavallee said a manager has to personally inspect each $50 bill and $100 bill that a cashier receives.

“We have been very fortunate,” she said. “All of my cashiers have caught the bills people have tried to use.”

Carrollton police have reported an influx recently of counterfeit money, citing six reports on Tuesday alone.

“We have mostly seen $100 bills but there have also been $20s and $10s in the past month,” Lt. James Perry said. “Typically, counterfeit money is rare. We will see it sometimes once or twice in a year. We usually get several and then it drops off but this seems to be increasing.”

Perry said investigators have opened a full investigation, which includes contacting the Secret Service to try to generate a lead.

“People are using the $100 bills to get change, which is the sole purpose,” Perry said.

Though Lavallee said she has mostly seen small denominations, other Zaxby’s stores in the area have been hit with the $100 bills. “They use a baiting and switching method,” Lavallee said. “They will pay with the $100 bill, then say they want to pay with a $5 bill and then want to use two $1 bills. After that they will tell the cashier that they didn’t get their $100 bill back and the cashier will accidentally give them a real one.”

Some customers are using the bills without knowing they are counterfeit, like one who used a fake $10 bill at Zaxby’s, according to Lavallee.

The customer allegedly received the bill as change from either Home Depot or Walmart in Villa Rica, where there has also been an increase in the problem, according to police.

“We’ve probably had 10 reports in the last few months, which is more than normal,” Villa Rica police Capt. Keith Shaddix said. “But there’s no telling how much is passed without us knowing about it.”

Carrollton police said they are working with other law enforcement agencies to try to connect the reports.

“It could be multiple people working as a group,” Perry said.

One similarity in a number of the cases involved the method used to produce the counterfeit bills.

“The majority of the bills are $5 bills that have been washed to look like $100 bills,” Perry said.

The “washing” technique is often used, and according to Lavallee, a counterfeit pen, typically used to detect fake bills, shows that these are legitimate.

“The key is to check the security strip,” she said.

There are distinct security strips in each denomination $5 and higher. With a black light, a $5 bill glows blue, a $10 bill glows orange, a $20 bill glows green, a $50 bill glows yellow and a $100 bill glows red.

Perry recommended that retailers and restaurateurs offer additional training in detecting counterfeit money.

“We offer a course in this,” Perry said. “All an employer has to do is make arrangements with us and we will work with their employees.”