NATCHEZ &045; Even the best fakes glow with deception under a $20 black light.

A Miss-Lou counterfeit money problem that picked up steam in the spring is still alluding some local business owners, something police say is easily avoidable.

The Adams County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the origin of four counterfeit $20s passed at a fireworks stand over the weekend, Deputy Ricky Stevens said. Natchez Police have seen about three cases in the past month.

&uot;The quickest and easiest way (to identify counterfeit money) is to hold it up to a black light,&uot; NPD Investigator Gary Nations said. &uot;Or just compare it to a real bill, one you know is real.&uot;

Under a black light, a real bill’s security thread will glow. The thread is a different color and is located in a different spot on each denomination. The thread is blue on a $5, orange on a $10, green on a $20, yellow on a $50 and red on a $100.

Counterfeit bills won’t have the thread.

Depending on the type of paper and the quality of the reproduction, the whole counterfeit bill may glow a bluish color.

The recent streak of counterfeit money started in April and culminated with the May arrest of two Natchez residents and one Baton Rouge native.

Late last year, ACSO officers seized a computer being used to create the bills and turned it over to the Secret Service.

Stevens said he wasn’t sure where the latest money was being produced, though.

Counterfeit $20s that look like the new colored $20 are suspected to be coming from Asia, Nations said.

There are several other ways to identify counterfeit dollars, including checking for a watermark by holding the bill up to a light, comparing fine line printing in the oval surrounding the president’s face and in the numeral and borders and checking the color shifting ink on $10s, $20s, $50s and $100s. Real money has all of these features, but duplication on fake bills is hard.

Still, Nations said the surefire way is to invest in a small black light and check money in a low-light area before accepting it from the customer.

Businesses that accept counterfeit money are not reimbursed and simply lose on the deal. Businesses that pass counterfeit money are considered just as guilty as the person who first used it.

Nations said markers often used to detect counterfeit money are not a guarantee and can often miss certain types of counterfeit dollars.

NPD offers a three-hour course for business owners and managers on detecting counterfeit bills. The course has been taught two times already and Nations said a third course will be available soon. Businesses will receive notification of the event.

If a sales clerk can identify a bill as counterfeit or has suspicions, they should try to get as much information as possible about the customer, including a tag number, Nations said. They can also call 911 and an officer will come to the scene.