Warning for events staff after fake $100 bills passed at Testicle Festival

DUNDAS, Wis. (WBAY) - A Calumet County business is warning people to watch out for fake bills after they were victims of fraud at the annual Testicle Festival.

Rocky & Tara’s Nut Haus posted on Facebook that someone passed fake $100 bills at their business and Two of a Kind.

“We would like to make this notice to all upcoming festivals and big events to be on guard,” reads the Facebook Post. “As these bills can be bought by ANYONE ON A WEBSITE.”

The bills appear to be marked with some Chinese writing. We’ve reported before on these fake bills. Some are marked as motion picture bills.

Rocky & Tara’s Nut Haus says the scammers likely hit them with the fake bills when their crew was busy and not able to do checks with money pens.

“People are stating, well, I could have seen that from a mile away. No, bills like I stated are defaced all of the time. So I would just like to mention, that the bill felt completely normal,” said Tara Erickson, owner, of Rocky and Tara’s Nut Haus.

The bills were passed at each of the two bars hosting the event, plus another, under the tent. The person who did it also managed to avoid the security cameras.

Sgt. Nat Borman of the Outagamie County Sheriff’s Department says, “Typically once we have one, we will have a rash of a couple.”

He tells Action 2 News that most of the fake bills are bought online and come from places like China.

Borman added, “It’s well marked that it’s not real money. There’s Chinese characters on it, other indications it’s not meant to be real money, although they do a really good job making it look real.”

In this case, about six thousand people were at the festival this past Saturday, and many of those working, were volunteers facing long lines.

With summer just beginning, Erickson says she wants to warn other festival organizers, that they could also be a target.

“Really, if you think about it, the problem could have been way worse. We walked away with three bills. It could have been three hundred. It could have been way worse. We’re very lucky in the grand scheme of things. We don’t want to see any other festival or any other business have this issue. The bills were very real.”

The business encourages people with information to reach out to them. They say they will offer a reward.

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