Business offers free cupcakes for arrest in counterfeit cases

AUSTIN, Texas - Georgetown businesses are being hit by criminals passing off counterfeit 20, 50 and 100 dollar bills.

One suspect was recently caught on video committing this crime.

The owner of Gigi's Cupcakes in Georgetown Chet Kenisell said the man ordering cupcakes in the video is no customer.

"He knows exactly what to say. How to get the girl vulnerable and stop paying attention," said Kenisell.

Kenisell captured video in his store on June 15th. The video captured a man handing the store clerk three fake $50 bills in three separate transactions.

Kenisell said he has the routine down.

"He comes in, he starts turkey talking to our customer service, picks out one small item and he pays for it with a counterfeit $50 bill. Once he gets the change and he knows that she is willing to give him the change for a fake $50 bill he does it again. So now I need to get another cupcake for my girlfriend. So then he pays with a new fake $50 bill. So now he's gotten $100 dollars from us,” said Kenisell.

Kenisell said the man has hit his store in Georgetown twice and once at his Cedar Park store.

“I think he's a professional at it so he knows when he comes in who is dealing with. We watch the video footage and he is constantly watching, he's looking at the drawer, he's talking too, he's a pro he does this a lot as you can tell,” Kenisell said.

He has trained staff to watch out for the man, but this particular day the employee was new and had not received the training.

“What's really sad about the situation is that I had to train my whole staff about him. The young lady that he made the exchange with was brand-new she had been with us for two weeks” Kenisell said.

Staff has been trained to stop accepting high bills for transactions under a certain amount.

Georgetown police said the crime is happening to business owners all over town.

"We've noticed a trend of increased counterfeit money that is being passed through the community. It's not only with the fast food industry we have other businesses a couple of chiropractic offices and things that deal with cash practices," said Captain Roland Waits.

Captain Roland said there have been at least seven reports since January of fake 20, 50 and 100 dollar bills that have been used.

Kenisell shared a photo of the 50’s used in his store.

Women were involved in two cases. The black male in Gigi's appears to have also been involved in at least one other counterfeit incident that day.

Kenisell is so anxious to get them caught that he is offering a year's worth of free cupcakes for a tip leading to an arrest.

"What that means is free cupcakes for 52 weeks," said Kenisell.

"It's really sad because we work really hard for pay. My employees work really hard. You know it cost a lot of money to own and start a business. For somebody to go out and take an advantage of that and not really have to work for the money is really discouraging and we just want to get the guy caught," said Kenisell.

If you have any information about these counterfeit crimes call the Georgetown Police Department at 512-930-3510.