With Manchester By The Sea nominated for six Oscars at this Sunday’s Academy Awards, including Best Picture, it seems us here in Massachusetts are once again taking this whole “Hollywood East” thing pretty seriously.
So seriously, in fact, that a McDonald’s in New Bedford has started accepting cash clearly marked “For Motion Picture Use Only.”
Oops — turns out they weren’t supposed to do that.
According to a report in the New Bedford Guide, a customer at the fast food joint on Kings Highway used the drive-thru twice to buy some snacks, both times using a fake $50 with a frowning Ulysses S. Grant on the face. When the suspect went back for a third try, however, the jig was up.
“He used the bills to pay for $9.19 in food at 8:58 p.m. and returned less than 15 minutes later and purchased $10.37 in food,” writes New Bedford Guide. “Ten minutes later, he attempted to use a third counterfeit bill to purchase $10 in food but the cashier questioned the bill. This is not the first case of counterfeit bills marked ‘Motion Picture Use Only’ being circulated in the city. In October, counterfeit $100 bills with the same wording were used in transactions at three businesses. A 25-year-old man was arrested for using a counterfeit $100 to buy a water gun at a business on Ashley Boulevard.
New Bedford Guide reports that these types of counterfeit bills are available for purchase on the Internet, and the Bristol County city’s police department has warned residents and businesses to verify all cash before completing a transaction.
No truth to the rumor that the suspect is “a janitor from Quincy.”
Here’s a look at the cash, via New Bedford Guide:
[h/t Mike Oliver on Facebook]