Check that $20 in your pocket before you spend it, because it might be counterfeit.
We heard rumblings that someone was handing out fake 20-dollar bills in the Haight, with confirmed reports of fake bills from Cantata Coffee (1708 Haight St.) and Mom's Tattoo (1408 Haight St.). As of yesterday morning, the tellers at Wells Fargo on 1726 Haight St. were warning customers about the bad bills.
Then, late yesterday morning, in an unexpected turn of events, the man who had allegedly been spending the fake bills returned to Cantata with another fake $20, which the barista refused to accept. According to Cantata employee Brianna Oliphant, a few of their regulars (described by another regular customer as "people living on the street, with packs and dogs") happened to be around and had heard about the fake bills, so they tried to get the man to stay while the shop called the cops. When the man ran, Cantata's regulars tackled him and held him down in a citizen's arrest until the police arrived. The man was arrested by police following the incident.
According to another Cantata customer/regular who preferred not to provide a name, the man had also been using the fake twenties to buy drugs around the neighborhood, which is why they intervened. "The guy tried to run from the cops too, and they tackled him," the customer said. "It's a serious crime," Oliphant went on to say, "and this is a tight community."
We spoke to Michael West, the lead teller at Wells Fargo, who said that so far the bank had seen only two of the counterfeit bills. "Hopefully there won't be any more," he said. "The fronts of these were good, but the backs were really obvious." West said that contrary to what many people might think, 20-dollar bills are actually the most commonly counterfeited US currency.
Counterfeiting falls under the purview of the Secret Service, so remember: if you've seen a counterfeit floating around, call the cops or San Francisco's Secret Service field office (that number is [415] 576-1210).
