This Big Ben Could Not Buy a Big Mac

GILBERT, W. Va. — Some people just can’t resist a challenge.

A teenager with a computer and laser printer is the first known person to counterfeit the new $100 bill, which the U.S. Treasury redesigned to try to foil counterfeiters, authorities said.

While his attempts were not that convincing--some of the bills featured the teen’s picture instead of Benjamin Franklin’s--his uncle was arrested for allegedly trying to use one of them at McDonald’s in this town 50 miles south of Charleston, W. Va.

Lawrence Riffe was charged Tuesday with using counterfeit money and was freed on bond, Gilbert Police Chief Greg Cline said.

The teen, whose name and age were not released, was not charged because he apparently did not intend to use the fake bills, police said.

“This appears to be the first incident of an attempt to counterfeit this note . . . anywhere in the United States,” said Secret Service agent Steve Rutledge in Charleston.

The new bills, which went into circulation last week, feature an enlarged, off-center picture of Franklin, among other changes.