NATCHEZ — Walter T. Jones and Linzell S. Thornburg have allegedly gone on a spending spree — the problem is their money is fake.

Warrants have been issued for Jones and Thornburg, who were last seen in Vidalia, Natchez Police Department Sgt. Craig Godbold said.

“We’re chasing them hard,” Godbold said. “They’ve been passing $100 bills all over Vidalia and Ferriday.”

The two have allegedly spent at least 14 counterfeit $100 bills in Natchez and four in Vidalia, Godbold said. He was not sure how many had been used in Ferriday. Most of them were used at restaurants, gas stations, Wal-Mart and one at Natchez Municipal Court.

The bills have been hard to find and the counterfeiters have done several things to make them look real.

For example, when real bills are marked with a currency testing pen, the line shows up a light brown color. With the counterfeit money, the line is black.

To get around this, the bills were already marked with a light brown marker so that cashiers would not think to mark them again, Godbold said.

Most of the bills were not identified until they reached the banks, Godbold said.

“So many people have handled the bills that by the time we get them the process of finger printing will be lengthy because we have to do process of elimination for everybody’s prints that were on it,” Godbold said.

There are other key traits that can be used to identify the bills, Godbold said.

Nearly all the $100 bills that have been found have the same serial number, BD07415928A.

They also lack the watermark and the magnetic strip on the inside of the bill.

There are also counterfeit $20 bills circulating in the area, but police have not been able to tie these to Jones and Thornburg.

Because of how many bills have been showing up, police think there may be more people involved, Godbold said.

“We expect more arrests to follow,” he said. “We want to know where (the bills) are coming from.”

Anyone with information should call Crime Stoppers at 601 442-5000, Godbold said.