Teens involved in a drug deal unwittingly used and accepted a fake $100 bill for payment.
And that’s prompting Manteca Police to warn law-abiding citizens to make sure they aren’t duped as well.
Pink Chinese lettering showed up on at least one $100 bill during a drug exchange in Manteca on Tuesday between two juveniles away from their school campus. Police warn “bills” have the markings on them for counting training purposes and can’t be used as real currency. 
Manteca Police public information officer Sgt. Mike Aguilar said the bills come in $5, $10, $20, $50 and $100-dollar denominations. They are stamped with pink Chinese words and are missing several security features.  He added that the bills are available for purchase online and are legal to buy for the use they are intended in the training of bank employees.
Detective Aaron Montoya explained that the bills come in packs of 100. He is questioning where the other 99 of those training bills could be on the street and speculated they could possibly be accepted or used to buy food and such without people realizing it.  Montoya said the police department wants whoever has the remaining bills to be aware that local detectives are hoping to discover who they are.
Police who became involved with the drug case said the two juveniles possibly had no idea that the one $100 bill they were using was phony – either the seller or the buyer.
Montoya said the bills are easily recognized as being fake by members of the public who are focusing on the print quality compared to the newer bills that have more security features to prevent counterfeiting fraud.  They are more easily passed at events involving alcohol, he said. 
Anyone with information on the passing of these bills circulating in Manteca are urged to call Detective Montoya at (209) 456-8203.

To contact Glenn Kahl, email gkahl@mantecabulletin.com.