Georgia Southern University’s Eagle Dining Services (EDS) has reported three separate cases of counterfeit bills to the Office of Public Safety this semester, two of which occurred at Chick-fil-A.

The other incident occurred at the Main Dining Commons.

“Like any other business, Eagle Dining Services sometimes comes across counterfeit bills,” Michael Murphy, marketing coordinator of Eagle Dining Services, said.

When EDS receives counterfeit money, they report it to University Police.

“Our policy is always to mark everything ten dollars and above and when we get any circumstances we contact public safety immediately and they come and take care of it,” Murphy said.

GSU’s Criminal Investigative Division then looks at the case.

“We’ve also talked with the Secret Service,” Chief Michael Russell, director of public safety, said. “I don’t think they’ve made much headway at this point, they’re still just looking at some basic stuff on the case.”

Counterfeit bills are not a common occurrence on campus, Russell said.

“With the quality of the printers that are available – it’s just like fake IDs – [forgers] can’t get the paper and put the security features, but they can make some pretty decent [bills],” Russell said.

However, there are measures one can take to detect counterfeit money by comparing the suspect bill with an authentic one.

“The most reliable thing is just looking for the security features,” Russell said.

Some things to look at are the portrait, Federal Reserve and Treasury seals, border, serial numbers and paper, according to the Secret Service website.

EDS and Public Safety have been keeping in close contact to solve issues as they come up.

Murphy said, “We do our best to coordinate with public safety and ensure that they take care of the matter.”