iPad mini Sold iPad and got counterfeit money, how should I take action?

Ouch. How did you realise it was counterfeit?

I would still report it to Apple anyway.

You are a very lucky fellow. One of our employees sold a MBP and received a counterfeit cashiers check. The bank notified the police. They thumped and banged on his door and he caved and opened it. They hauled him away and he was later convicted of possession of a counterfeit payment instrument, a felony. His pleas that he had no prior knowledge that the check was bad went unheard. He was convicted based on the fact that he was in mere possession of something illegal. Mens Rea no longer protects Americans.

I realize that laws vary from state to state but I wanted you to know how lucky you are that the police didn't take you away.

When is america going to get real money like Australia and Canada, which are much harder to confer-fit and extremely obvious in nearly all cases when it is counterfeited?

Wow, that bites.

How did you find that you received counterfeit money?

I don't think there's anything you can do at this stage

That sure sucks. Not much you can do. You were being honest and some dirt bag stung you. If you factory reset it and sold it thinking all things were straight up, it is long gone. Feel for you. Hope the police get them, because passing counterfeit a lot more serious than stealing your iPad.

Hate to say this but I would have just spent it here and there and rid myself of the fake cash. Why should you get screwed? Play dumb. It's not like you counterfeited it. You didn't know.... It's as simple as that.

are you in the US?

While it is a small amount - the secret service generally handles any cases involving counterfeit US dollars. May be worth looking into filing a report there, assuming you are US-based.

Hate to say it but some police departments are fairly clueless about how to handle these cases. A few years back someone was passing fake bills in my area - and the police didn't do anything for weeks. Sure enough the secret service heard about it via the news and was here the next day after the broadcast, with the FBI, checking with retailers (including one I worked at)

Wow, the same thing happened to me about a week ago, I got over it fast cause I keep thinking it could have been worse (like he could shoot me or something like that) but I miss my iPad very much and can't get a new one knowing that the iPad Air 2 is just around the corner. It was a great lesson (learned the hard way though)

maflynn said:

How did you find that you received counterfeit money?

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It was probably printed on one side .

Threads like these make it even less likely that I would want to sell something to a stranger .

Plutonius said:

It was probably printed on one side .

Threads like these make it even less likely that I would want to sell something to a stranger .

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yeah..either sell to coworker/friend or gift to family/friend. Its usually not worth the hassle...hence people doing iphone tradeins and such.

dndandrea said:

Very true, and that's what was going through my mind all night last night. I have to get over it quickly because there's important stuff I have to focus on all this week. I'm trying not to let it distract me, but I feel like I should call all the pawn shops, keep checking craigslist, keep checking ebay, etc... Like you said though, lesson learned the hard way.

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At least you are at that point. Far too many people these days have something negative happen and let it consume them (like those psychos who yell at Apple employees on youtube...).

Better off focusing on your main things (your job, partner, home, etc) since in the long run those will be far more impactful than a $400 loss. Just remember in the future: meet at an apple store/bank and only accept bank checks (or if cash: have a bank teller check it right then and there). If they refuse - they aren't worth it.

Selling to a stranger is fine...

1. Buy a money marker for determining if bills are counterfeit
2. meet in a very public place
3. No checks/money orders/cashier's checks. Cash only
4. Never give out your address

s2mikey said:

Hate to say this but I would have just spent it here and there and rid myself of the fake cash. Why should you get screwed? Play dumb. It's not like you counterfeited it. You didn't know.... It's as simple as that.

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So much better to screw someone else.


(Yes, high horse and all that!)

s2mikey said:

Hate to say this but I would have just spent it here and there and rid myself of the fake cash. Why should you get screwed? Play dumb. It's not like you counterfeited it. You didn't know.... It's as simple as that.

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lemme see, I get screwed and realize the money is no good so knowing it's bad I should go out and see if I can pass it off to someone else cause after all I didn't want to take bad money...hey I got a better idea, I could stick it in the church collection plate on Sunday. That way nobody but me and the big guy would know who put the bad money in the plate, I wouldn't actually be getting goods or services for the bad money and I would get a tax deduction for it. How's that for passing the buck.
Geez, your momma oughta be proud.
and did you consider what would the G-Men think of you passing money that you knew was bad, I think maybe that's called counterfeiting or something close to it.

s2mikey said:

Hate to say this but I would have just spent it here and there and rid myself of the fake cash. Why should you get screwed? Play dumb. It's not like you counterfeited it. You didn't know.... It's as simple as that.

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This is real brilliant. You are out an iPad and have $400 in bad money. When trying to pass off the money, what are the chances of getting caught? You go from an innocent victim to one knowingly passing off counterfeit money. Your lawyer will go through that $400 in no time not to mention some really fun interrogations from the Secret Service and others.

You can't do much at this point.
I wouldn't do anything that could land me in trouble

Sorry for the loss of your iPad and $400.

http://www.secretservice.gov/money_receive.shtml. If you can remember what he looks like... They may forensically examine the bills as well.

hpucker99 said:

This is real brilliant. You are out an iPad and have $400 in bad money. When trying to pass off the money, what are the chances of getting caught? You go from an innocent victim to one knowingly passing off counterfeit money. Your lawyer will go through that $400 in no time not to mention some really fun interrogations from the Secret Service and others.

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Nope. You didn't know it was counterfeit. Twenty here, twenty there. Couple of weeks worth of gas or whatever. Like most currency isn't counterfeit anyways, it isn't backed by anything and the Feds print it like toilet paper.

Enough with all the goody, goodys here...geesh.

dndandrea said:

I thought the whole process was fishy

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All things being equal, you felt something was up, next time if you have that sort of unease, walk away. Don't execute the sale.

s2mikey said:

Hate to say this but I would have just spent it here and there and rid myself of the fake cash. Why should you get screwed? Play dumb. It's not like you counterfeited it. You didn't know.... It's as simple as that.

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Of course, for all we know the buyer was doing just that. There's no way to know how many hands the fake cash has passed through. Who's to say the buyer even knew it was fake?

s2mikey said:

Nope. You didn't know it was counterfeit. Twenty here, twenty there. Couple of weeks worth of gas or whatever. Like most currency isn't counterfeit anyways, it isn't backed by anything and the Feds print it like toilet paper.

Enough with all the goody, goodys here...geesh.

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While I get what you are saying if this person were to get caught would they not get in serious trouble for passing off counterfeit money?

I'm sorry to hear that this happened to you. That sucks.
Usually when I sell something on craigslist I look at the bills that they hand me. If they feel like they're old like that they've been in circulation for a few years and are twenty dollar bills I'm fine. Anything over a $100 I always check for the watermark (unless they hand me the newer $100 bill).