A boy walked into Minit Mart on Morgantown Road last Monday and tried to purchase a pizza with a counterfeit $100 bill, according to a Bowling Green Police Department report.

At Warren Rural Electric Cooperative Corp., a teller reported Tuesday that she received a fake $100 bill, a police report said. A man tried to use a counterfeit $100 bill at Junior Foods on Sept. 2 and was confused when store clerks told him it was fake, a report said.

And so on.

The use of counterfeit money tends to spike depending on the season. There was an upswing of counterfeit complaints in the spring, and it seems that illegal money is increasing again in Bowling Green, said Officer Ronnie Ward, spokesman for the BGPD.

“It seems that we have spikes certain times in the year,” he said, adding that counterfeit cases were on an upswing around April and May. “Now, they’re back up again.”

Officials speculate that counterfeit money use increases when new, illegal bills begin to circulate. Police officers work with local banks to help identify perpetrators and stop that circulation, Ward said.

If someone thinks he or she has received counterfeit money, the best advice is to compare it to another bill of the same value, pay close attention to the spacing and look for the security strip, Ward said.

The biggest factor working against counterfeiters is that they are “not able to put a security strip in it,” he said.

Additionally, identity thefts and credit card fraud cases have popped up in recent police reports.

A Bowling Green woman reported Wednesday that someone had made a purchase from eBay worth more than $56 using her credit card, a police report said. A Bowling Green man claimed his identity was stolen when he responded to an email that seemed to be from American Express but ended up being a scam, a report said.

Several people get their identities stolen through email scams, said Reanna Smith-Hamblin, spokeswoman for the Better Business Bureau in Louisville.

Many scammers disguise themselves as familiar companies, requesting information from consumers, or they promise savings or free items if a person visits websites. They then trick people into volunteering personal information, Smith-Hamblin said.

The Bowling Green man who was scammed by someone posing to be American Express filled out a form, which included his checking account and Social Security number, because he thought his credit card information had changed, the police report said.

“They get excited and click on the links in the email,” Smith-Hamblin said.

People sometimes fall victim to wallet and purse thefts, Smith-Hamblin said – a woman recently reported that credit cards and other items were stolen from her purse that she left in an unlocked car, according to police reports.

It’s very important to never put banking or credit information in the mailbox and raise the red flag. It’s also very important to keep an eye on how your cards are being used by keeping track of your credit report, Smith-Hamblin said.

Additionally, many identity thieves sift through garbage cans and Dumpsters for any personal information on receipts, bank stubs and other paperwork, Smith-Hamblin said.

“Make sure you always, always, always shred your stuff,” she said.