Two Ames stores have received counterfeit $20 bills on two separate occasions.

Target, 620 Lincoln Way, and Wal-Mart, 3015 Grand Ave., mistook the bills for authentic ones on Feb. 5 and Feb. 13.

“There were three bills used at each store,” said Sgt. Randy Kessel of the Ames Police Department. “They were the new style $20 bills.”

Kessel said he speculates the reason the counterfeiters chose those two stores was because of the high volume of people who shop there.

“If you get really busy at the checkout, and there are 20 people standing in line, and you’re doing a lot of handling of money, unless you give it really close scrutiny, it would be hard to catch,” he said.

Matt McCormick, manager of Target, also attributed the counterfeiters’ success to the fact that not many people are yet accustomed to seeing the new bills.

“We’re not used to looking for it,” McCormick said.

Kessel agreed with his assessment.

“When the new 20s first came out, they looked so fake that everybody was calling us,” he said.

McCormick said each counterfeit bill had the same serial number, causing employees to notice the bills were not authentic.

“The bills had a variation in color in the shading of the characters on the bills,” Kessel said.

He said the counterfeiters copied and printed the front and the back of the bills, probably on a laser printer, and glued the sides together.

McCormick said he is taking precautions against this happening again by teaching his employees some verification procedures.

“We are showing them things to look for on a real $20 bill,” McCormick said. “For instance, the face on the bill is offset and there is a strip that becomes visible when the bill is held up to the light.”

Kessel said other businesses should be aware that fake bills could be used anywhere.

“I really think these were isolated incidents, but business owners should be on the lookout in the future,” he said.

The Secret Service also has been informed of the situation and the Ames Police Department is keeping them abreast of the situation, he said.