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A lifeless portrait of a president. Ink that doesn’t change color. Lines that blur around the edges.

All signs of a counterfeit bill — and all floating amid the currency of the Triad. This is the time of year when fake bills fly in — and out — of cash registers.

“The whole month of December is when we see the big increase,” said Glen Kessler, assistant special agent in charge of the Secret Service’s Charlotte office. “People are looking for money to spend.”

The Secret Service confiscated more than $62,000 in fake bills last month in western North Carolina, Kessler said. That figure is likely to top $80,000 in December.

It’s a matter of supply and demand — and distraction.

“It’s easier to get the clerk who’s being hassled. They pass the fake $20 by her or fake $50 by her without her noticing it.”

Stores that have been stung don’t forget it.

A few years ago, a bank called Toys & Co. at Friendly Center.

The store had been given some bad bills. Since then, they’ve taken steps to prevent a repeat.

“We just heightened our awareness,” said Marc Holcomb, whose family owns the Friendly Center store.

So far, they haven’t been hit again.

“This year,” he said, pausing to knock on a Formica counter, “we’ve been OK.”

The seized money comes from wildly varying locales.

Some of it, printed on large presses, flows into the country from places such as Colombia or Southeast Asia, often in conjunction with drugs and guns, Kessler said.

The rest is homegrown, run off on inkjet printers or copiers.

“People make it in the basement or something and they pass it around the city,” Kessler said.

While the flood keeps coming — with more than $800,000 seized so far this year in the western third of the state — so do investigators.

“There are ongoing counterfeiting investigations in Greensboro and Charlotte,” Kessler said.

But the public has a role to play as well — by inspecting bills they receive from stores or banks. That should be done before walking away from the teller or clerk.

Retailers and customers should remember that fake bills can be detected, Kessler said.

It just takes a little looking.

Contact Jason Hardin at 373-7021 or jason.hardin@news-record.com