A counterfeit currency blitz that quietly began in the fall of 2025 has now emerged as one of the most striking fake cash busts of early 2026, with investigators tying a string of bogus $100 bills to 12 In‑N‑Out restaurants across Southern California. Police say the scheme relied on quick hits, small orders and convincing bills, turning a classic fast‑food stop into a testing ground for high‑quality counterfeits before the operation finally unraveled.
Authorities now allege that two women from Long Beach used the same pattern at locations from Los Angeles County to Orange County, slipping counterfeit $100 notes across the counter and walking away with both food and real change. What looked like routine late‑night burger runs in Sept. and Oct. 2025 has become a case study in how low‑dollar transactions can add up to a serious financial crime wave once investigators start connecting the receipts.
The fall 2025 blitz that blindsided In‑N‑Out
According to investigators, the pattern first surfaced in Glendale when staff at an In‑N‑Out noticed something off about a large bill used on a relatively small order. The Glendale Police Financial Crime Detectives later traced that early report back to activity that began around Oct. 21, when someone passed fake currency at a local restaurant, a detail that helped anchor the broader timeline of the scam across Glendale. By the time detectives realized they were looking at a coordinated operation rather than a one‑off bad bill, the suspects had already hit multiple locations.
Police say the same In‑N‑Out restaurants that built their reputation on speed and consistency became ideal targets for quick, low‑profile fraud. In one case, officers reported that the pair focused on an In‑N‑Out location in Glendale on Oct. 25, then returned to the same city five days later, a pattern that helped the Glendale Police Financial Crime Detectives link separate incidents to the same suspects at the In‑N‑Out restaurants. What began as a local concern in one city soon expanded into a regional investigation as more stores reported similar losses.
Two Long Beach suspects and a dozen Southern California hits
As the case widened, Authorities in Southern California publicly tied the scheme to approximately a dozen In‑N‑Out locations, describing a methodical run through busy drive‑thrus and late‑night dining rooms. Investigators now say that 12 In‑N‑Out restaurants in Southern California were ultimately identified as targets, a tally that underscores how quickly a mobile crew can exploit a popular chain before patterns emerge for Authorities. The geographic spread, from Los Angeles County into Orange County, highlighted how a single counterfeit crew can ripple across an entire region of Southern California in a matter of weeks.
Police have identified the suspects as Two Long Beach women, describing them as the central figures in a counterfeit cash operation that targeted In‑N‑Out Burger locations in Los Angeles and surrounding communities. Investigators say the pair repeatedly used counterfeit $100 bills to pay for modest orders, then pocketed the genuine change, a tactic that allegedly netted them a “few thousand” dollars before the pattern was recognized and the Glendale Police Department moved in. The arrests, which followed weeks of cross‑checking receipts and surveillance footage, effectively ended what had become one of the most extensive fast‑food‑focused counterfeit runs in recent local memory.
How the counterfeit $100 bills worked at the counter
The heart of the case is the counterfeit $100 bills themselves, which investigators say were convincing enough to slip past busy cashiers during peak hours. Police released photos of counterfeit $100 bills alongside two receipts from Sept. 29, 2025, including One order for a Flying Dutchman, a pared‑down burger that typically costs only a few dollars, which made the large denomination stand out once detectives reviewed the Sept. records. The mismatch between the small ticket size and the oversized bill became one of the key clues that something more systematic was happening.
Investigators say the suspects relied on repetition and speed rather than elaborate social engineering, often ordering simple items and paying with the same kind of counterfeit $100 notes at different locations. Over time, Glendale Police compiled surveillance images that allegedly show the same women paying for their orders with large bills at multiple In‑N‑Out restaurants, evidence that was later shared more broadly as part of a counterfeit cash scam targeting approximately a dozen Out locations. The visual trail, combined with matching receipts and serial numbers, helped turn what looked like scattered incidents into a coherent case.
The break in the case and the role of front‑line staff
For all the forensic work that followed, the turning point in the investigation appears to have come from the counter, not the lab. Reports describe how a smart employee at one In‑N‑Out location noticed irregularities in a bill and raised the alarm, prompting managers to contact police and preserve key evidence. That alert helped investigators connect the dots between earlier incidents and the emerging pattern of fake $100 bills, a pattern that eventually led to the arrest of Two suspects accused of using counterfeit notes at In‑N‑Outs across California. It is a reminder that even in an age of advanced detection tools, human attention at the register still matters.
Once the pattern was flagged, Glendale police moved quickly, coordinating with other jurisdictions and using surveillance footage, receipts and cash handling records to build a case. Two women were ultimately arrested after investigators linked about a dozen locations to the same counterfeit scam, with officers alleging that the pair repeatedly paid with counterfeit $100 bills at In‑N‑Out Burger outlets across the region, a sequence of events later detailed by reporter Bernadette Giacomazzo. The arrests capped what authorities have described as one of the most significant fast‑food‑focused counterfeit cases to hit Southern California in recent years, even if the individual transactions rarely topped the cost of a combo meal.
Why this early‑2026 bust matters beyond the drive‑thru
Although the fake bills began circulating in late 2025, law enforcement is treating the takedown as a defining counterfeit case of early 2026, in part because of its scope and the number of locations involved. Authorities allege that two Long Beach women orchestrated a Counterfeit $100 blitz that ultimately nailed 12 In‑N‑Outs, a scale that has drawn national attention to how quickly small‑value fraud can spread when it targets a beloved, high‑volume chain and the Long Beach suspects. For businesses that still handle significant cash, the case underscores that the risk is not limited to banks or luxury retailers.
The investigation has also become a touchpoint in local conversations about financial literacy and frontline training. Social media posts have amplified the story, with one widely shared clip warning, “Attention California homebuyers!” while pivoting to discuss how Glendale police announced the arrest of a suspect and took her into custody, a juxtaposition that shows how crime stories now travel alongside everything from mortgage tips to down payment assistance of up to $150,000 in a single Jan post. As I see it, the In‑N‑Out case is less about the novelty of “hamburglars” and more about how everyday transactions, from a Flying Dutchman to a late‑night combo, can become the front line in a much larger fight against counterfeit cash.
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