MTA cracking down on bogus bills

The subway-workers union and the MTA are cracking down on straphangers who use bogus bills to buy MetroCards, The Post has learned.

The MTA was hit with almost $20,000 in funny money at booths in 2012 and around $30,000 in 2011.

Counterfeit bills are particularly hard on station agents, who are hauled into hearings when they accept them — and often have the money taken out of their paychecks.

The MTA has been giving workers special pens to use on suspect bills, and transit officials say workers don't lose money if they use them. But the Transport Workers Union says the pens are relics that can't detect the more sophisticated fake moneys in circulation.

"It's absolutely useless," said the TWU's Paul Piazza. "They are dried up. They're not replaced often. We have case after case where there are marks on the bill, but the station agent is charged."

When a worker accepts a bogus bill, it means an expensive labor hearing, which costs the MTA $170 to $700, the TWU says.

To save money, the union urged the MTA to purchase the Fraud Fighter CT-550, a compact machine that costs only about $145 and quickly detects counterfeit bills, spitting them out.

It's used by many businesses throughout the city. The MTA installed two of the units in stations earlier this month, one in The Bronx and the other in Queens.

Paul Flores, a union vice chairman, hopes the MTA will consider installing them at all subway stations. He said they give station agents peace of mind — and send a message to crooks.

"It has a two-fold effect," he said. "It's the well-being of the clerk [and] . . . to inform the public your phony money is not welcome anymore.

"People come to us [with bad bills] because they know we don't have anything."

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