Employees at Dane's Deli in Dane Smith Hall are looking a little closer at the money they receive after someone tried to fool them with a painted coin.
Ben Guerra, who was working at the deli last Monday, said a young man came to the counter and asked to exchange a gold dollar for four quarters to put in the parking meters.
When Guerra took a closer look at the coin, he realized that it was a silver half-dollar that had been colored gold.
"He stood there and wondered if his trick would work," Guerra said, "I think he painted it gold and tried to pawn it off thinking that people wouldn't be looking too close."
Guerra, a supervisor at the deli for three years, said that when he exchanged the painted coin for two quarters, the man questioned him as to why he had not given him a full dollar. Guerra said that when he explained, the man took off. Guerra also said he thought about calling the campus police, but couldn't remember what the customer looked like.
Guerra said he does remember that the individual is a Hispanic teenager who he thinks painted the coin gold in an effort to make it resemble the new Sacagawea gold dollar.
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Guerra said that he notified other venders on campus that someone was trying to pawn off altered money on campus.
He added that this is not the first time that the deli has received tampered money.
A couple of years ago, people tried to use counterfeit bills at the deli, but the cashiers used special pens able to detect counterfeit money, he said.
When marked on by the special pens, counterfeit bills turn a different color than real money. When armed with the pens, cashiers can easily detect fake bills.
The altered 50-cent coin the deli received bares the image of former President John F. Kennedy and was introduced in 1964 in his memory.
The Sacagawea dollar that the man attempted to duplicate took the place of the silver Susan B. Anthony dollar.
It pays tribute the American Indian teenager who helped to lead explorers Lewis and Clark westward in the 1800s and was modeled after a UNM student.
The U.S. Mint discontinued the Susan B. Anthony dollar for the Sacagawea coin, in part because it felt and looked too similar to a quarter. In contrast to the quarter, the new dollar has a different texture and because of it's color, is more distinguishable.
