If you’ve got the bucks, you can get celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck’s food at your private event. The Wolfgang Puck Catering & Events company bears a famous name, and now it’s being blamed for adding services charges to its customers’ bills without then handing over gratuities to its servers. [More]
Servers Sue Wolfgang Puck Catering Company Claiming It’s Skimmed Tips Since 2008
By May 20, 2013
Man Wants To Be The First To Sell A House For Bitcoins Because Real Money Is So 2008
By March 21, 2013
We are living in a digital world. If you need evidence, take a second to realize that you are reading these words on a screen. And also that someone is trying to sell a house for virtual currency — that wouldn’t have happened even a scant few years ago. The Canadian man says he’s got some projects he’s working on, and all those Bitcoins would come in super handy. [More]
UPDATE: Bank Says $1,400 In Counterfeit Bills Weren’t Counterfeit After All
By January 30, 2013
Yesterday, we told you about the Massachusetts man who withdrew $1,800 from Sovereign Bank, then took it over to pay his mortgage at Citizens Bank, only to have $1,400 of it confiscated for allegedly being counterfeit cash. Except it wasn’t. [More]
All Maple Trees Are Not The Same: Botanists Say Canada’s New Currency Features Wrong Leaf
By January 18, 2013
Canada is having a rough go of this whole “print new money and make sure it won’t melt” thing already, and now it sounds like there’s even more currency confusion. Botanists up north are claiming that the government put the wrong dang maple leaf on the country’s new polymer bills — a Norway maple leaf instead of the native Canadian maple. Ruh-roh. [More]
Customer Sues Walmart Because Cashiers Shouldn't Rip Up Two $100 Bills Without Making Sure They Are Real
By September 17, 2012
Anyone who has paid for a purchase with a $100 bill is probably familiar with the various methods that stores have for validating the authenticity of the note. But one Texas woman says she was publicly humiliated at her local Walmart when a cashier ripped up two of her C-notes — and then detained her on allegations of trying to pass counterfeit bills — without properly checking to see if the money was the real deal. [More]
If The Bank Hands You A Counterfeit Bill, You're Probably Stuck With It
By May 21, 2012
While financial institutions often go through various security checks to make sure that the $50 and $100 bills you hand to them are genuine, most consumers will accept these same bills from banks without giving a thought to whether or not they are bogus. Problem is, if you end up with counterfeit cash, you are most likely screwed. [More]
Waitress Sues Cops To Get Her $12K Tip Back After It's Seized As Evidence
By April 5, 2012
You say to-may-toe and I say to-mah-toe, and in the case of a waitress suing law enforcement, she says $12,000 is a miraculous tip and they say it’s drug money. Oh, and there is no tomato involved. So who’s right? After all, says the waitress, she tried to return the tip to the customer and was told to keep it. All’s fair in the food industry, after all. [More]
3 Ways To Spot A Counterfeit Bill
By March 12, 2012
If you suspect you’ve been stuck with counterfeit money, you should be able to verify your suspicions with a quick check. Knowing what telltale signs to look for can keep you from being ripped off in a cash transaction. [More]
Sony, Game Developer Scheme To Plague Gamers With More PS3 Microtransactions
By January 24, 2012
Angling to get in on the microtransaction gaming action that’s all the rage online and on mobile devices, Sony and a game developer are reportedly hammering out policies to allow games to nickel and dime players to a greater extent. [More]
Your $1 Million Bills Are No Good At Walmart, Or Anywhere Else
By January 2, 2012
If you happen to have a $1 million bill handy, you’ll probably want to limit its use to wall display or gags. Trying to use the obviously counterfeit piece of paper to buy stuff will probably get you in trouble with authorities. [More]
Trying To Buy Snacks With Fake Money Will Get You 80 Years In Jail
By November 21, 2011
Put that Monopoly money away! A man who tried to use a counterfeit $20 bill to buy snacks at a movie theater has been sentenced to 80 years in jail for his crime. [More]
Do Not Invest In "Collectible" Money
By May 11, 2011
What’s the value of a $2 bill that’s been sprayed with gold leaf? Two dollars — maybe less, if merchants don’t want to accept the corrupted currency. But that hasn’t stopped vendors from selling these and other “collectible” bills and coins at prices way above face value. [More]
Homegrown Currencies Are Popular Right Now, But Do They Work?
By July 20, 2010
Remember the Downtown Dollars that Ardmore, PA sold to its citizens this year? Sara Lepro at American Banker looked at that and other “homegrown currency” experiments happening across the country, which are intended to stimulate the local economy and take advantage of “a growing ‘localism’ movement.” [More]
I Found My Pre-Paid Walmart MoneyCard Impossible To Use
By June 14, 2010
Chris and his wife got a Walmart Money Card as a gift and thought they’d go spend it, but the money was buried under so many layers of red tape that they weren’t able to use it. To activate the card Chris was told he had to give up a litany of personal info, including his social security number. [More]
You Can Still Overpay For $2 Bills With Stickers On Them If You Want
By June 3, 2010
Those doctored $2 bills the World Reserve Monetary Exchange advertises as collectibles via misleading newspaper and magazine ads aren’t going away. The ad ran again Monday in papers around the country. [More]
Don't Buy Your Crack With Monopoly Money
By March 10, 2010
If there’s one thing every crack dealer hates, it’s being paid in Monopoly money. A 33-year-old man in Wichita, KS, was pulled over by officers last week and found bleeding from the head. He told police he’d just been tricked by his angry crack dealer into coming over to his house, whereupon the dealer pistol whipped his face. According to the police report, the victim told them that “a couple of weeks ago he bought several hundred dollars of crack-cocaine with Monopoly money and now the dealer was ready for pay back.” [More]
Newsweek Readers, Don't Fall For The Scam On Pages 60 and 61
By February 17, 2010
Remember that ad for doctored “state” $2 bills that ran in newspapers across the country? Now the “World Reserve Monetary Exchange,” the company that takes regular $2 bills and places stickers on them to turn them into state versions of the bills, has taken out a two-page spread of this week’s Newsweek. [More]
Company Selling Doctored 'State $2 Bills' For $17 Apiece
By February 3, 2010
An enterprising company called World Reserve Monetary Exchange took out ads in two Arizona newspapers last month, and presumably others throughout the country, offering supposedly rare, collectable ‘state $2 bills’ — meant to capitalize on the recent craze of state quarters — for $17 each, I reported in my day job at the Arizona Daily Star. [More]
