Man returns to pick up tab when friend uses fake money at Worcester restaurant

WORCESTER, Mass. — A woman accused of scamming a Worcester restaurant left her dining partner wrapped up in the scam last week.

John Le said he felt betrayed when he learned through social media that a friend paid for their dinner at a Worcester restaurant Friday night using fake $20 bills.

"She didn't want to give it to the waitress," Le said. "She was holding it like to the side And then we left and she put it on the table."

Le found his friend's evasiveness odd and now he understands why. The twenties are fakes, but look real enough that on a brisk night for business it would pass.

"She just pick it up quick, yeah," Sake Bomb owner Pattie Xie said. "The server didn't know. She brought the money to us and we say, 'oh this is not real money.'"

The wait staff at Sake Bomb didn't think twice about taking the bills as payment. But real money doesn't have 'states' spelled wrong. It doesn't have the word 'replica' printed on the front and there's no notation it's "for use in motion pictures."

So what would counterfeit money normally used in film-making be doing in Worcester? It so happens that about three weeks ago a production company was in town filming a movie. Though it's unknown if that's where the money came from.

In any case, when John Le realized what happened, he went to the police station and then to Sushi Bang to pay his bill with real money.

"She also stole my trust in a way, because like I trusted her to do the right thing," he said.

Instead, it was Le who did the right thing.

"Even though it wasn't my fault, I felt I should pay because it wasn't the people's here's fault, either," Le told Boston 25 News. "They're just making a living themselves -- even the waitress. So I felt bad and I came back and paid for it myself."

Cox Media Group