A San Antonio woman is suspected of passing two fake $100 bills and a phony $50 bill at two different businesses earlier this year.
Kyra Torrent, 35, was taken into custody Wednesday on a charge of forgery-counterfeit, according to an arrest affidavit.
Torrent's arrest suggests that counterfeiters have found a new way to create their ‘funny money." Investigators with the U. S. Secret Service said it involves so-called money washing.
Investigators said they learned the money had been "bleached," or treated with
chemicals that erased the ink.
What had been two $5 bills were then reprinted as $100 bills, and what was once a $1 bill became $50, according to the affidavit.
Criminals have used a similar process in the past on stolen checks. They chemically wash off the amounts and signatures written on checks, then rewrite and cash them.
Investigators obtained surveillance photos from the store transactions, as well as a license plate number on a car seen at one of the businesses, the affidavit stated.
After tracking down the registered owner of the car, they found out that Torrent was driving the vehicle at the time and was the person captured in the photos, the affidavit stated.
During questioning, Torrent told investigators that someone else gave her the money, the affidavit stated.
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