Culver’s in Collier County says it was also hit with counterfeit money

Two businesses in Collier County say they were targeted by crooks recently. They both say it happened the same day. Customers went to the businesses and paid with fake cash.

A Culver’s location Tuesday says two men tried to pay for food in counterfeit bills recently, the same day we previously reported Brooks Burgers said it also got hit with fake dough.

According to a report, an employee at the Culver’s recognized two men from earlier that day. They got away with using fake money the first time. The second time, the employee refused to serve them and called law enforcement.

A business owner told us businesses all across Collier County are finding fake money in their registers.

“I had an incident like that about three months ago,” Joseph Seymore said.

Todd Brooks said his downtown Naples and Vanderbilt Brooks Burgers locations were both hit with two $100 bills. Culver’s and Brooks Burgers connected over their similar incident.

“They called us to let us know that they had somebody come through there also,” Brooks said.

Both restaurants aren’t taking high bills for a few weeks.

“Usually, the problem starts to get better because people start getting nervous because it starts making the news, and people start paying more attention to it,” Brooks said.

Brooks said other businesses in the area are still getting hit. With the holidays just around the corner and people continuing to suffer because of the pandemic, Brooks wants to remind everyone to keep an eye out and check all bills before taking them.

“It makes me angry,” Brooks said. “I really just want them to get caught, so that the other people don’t have to suffer the same thing.”