Fake $50 turns up at Waffle House
STAFF REPORTS Gulf Breeze News news@gulfbreezenews.com

Gulf Breeze Police investigators want local business owners to be on the lookout for counterfeit bills. On Friday, April 11, an unknown patron paid for his or her meal at Waffle House in Gulf Breeze proper with a fake $50 bill. Restaurant management didn't notice the fake currency until April 13. By that time, police were unable to process it for finger prints because it had been handled too many times. When compared to an authentic bill of the same value, officers said the fake note was almost one quarter of an inch shorter. No arrests have been made.

Gulf Breeze Police investigator Lt. Rick Hawthorne said these types of crimes are more prevalent during the spring and summer seasons.

"This time of year with different people coming through, you never know what you will find," Hawthorne said.

Hawthorne added that fake currency and a scam he referred to as "flim flam" are more common as tourists, vacationers and con artists alike flock to the area's pristine beaches.

Hawthorne described flim flam as a slight of hand trick commonly used to dupe store clerks into giving scammers more change than the transaction called for, usually by showing a large bill and then switching it for a smaller one.