Law enforcement officials are seeing a new kind of counterfeit money circulating in the area.

The Bowling Green and Franklin police departments have reported an increase in the use of fake bills emblazoned with the phrase “For Motion Picture Purposes” at businesses.

BGPD spokesman Officer Ronnie Ward said his department has seen seven instances of people paying for purchases with movie prop money in the past 10 days or so. “We’ve had a flare-up really in the last week and a half,” he said.

BGPD previously saw a handful of similar episodes about a year ago and another few in the spring, Ward said.

“I know you can order these or buy them on the internet, and I’m suspecting that’s where they have come from,” he said.

There appears to be no pattern in regards to where these fake bills are spent or what is being purchased with them, Ward said.

BGPD has a detective examining the recent uses of motion picture money in an attempt to identify a suspect.

Ward recommended businesses vet incoming bills the same way as always.

“Most businesses have a policy in place already,” he said.

Though southern Kentucky has been the site of several film shoots in recent years, Ward said he doesn’t suspect the use of prop money is in any way related.

“I wouldn’t tie it to that because they’re so easy to order,” he said.

Lt. Dale Adams of the Franklin Police Department, said his community first saw prop money being used at local businesses about two years ago.

Since then, the department has seen two or three reported cases of prop money being used at local businesses a month. More recently, though, that number has jumped to roughly 10 a month.

Adams said he’s unsure why there’s been such an increase in using this type of fraudulent money.

“It seems like people are getting word of it and are trying it more,” he said, adding that prop money is easy to find online and legal to purchase.

An Oct. 29 post on FPD’s Facebook page warned about the increased use of prop money and urged employers to train their workers to spot the bogus currency.

The post said the bills are smoother than genuine bills and have “For Motion Picture Purposes” or red Chinese characters on them.

The post also urged clerks and business owners to inform law enforcement and try to get the license plates of anyone paying with fake money.

Adams urged business owners to install cameras to capture the faces of anyone using fake currency.

“The main thing we would like is to have these businesses install good cameras,” he said.

Like Ward, Adams said there appears to be no pattern to what is being purchased with the prop money.

“I wouldn’t call it an epidemic, but it’s definitely growing,” he said.

– Follow Daily News reporter Jackson French on Twitter @Jackson_French or visit bgdailynews.com.