Police: Man Tries To Open Account At Bank With Fake $1 Million Bill

LINCOLN, Neb. (CBS Local) -- A man tried to use a fake $1 million bill to open a checking account at a local bank branch, police in Nebraska said. The man presented the bill to a teller at a Pinnacle Bank branch in Lincoln's Havelock neighborhood Monday morning, witnesses told investigators. He adamantly claimed it was real despite attempts by tellers to convince him otherwise.

The man left the bank with the phony bill -- and without a new account.

Staff at the bank branch reported the encounter because it was strange, Lincoln Police Officer Angela Sands said, the Lincoln Journal-Star reported.

Investigators are reviewing surveillance video in an attempt to identify the man. They want to check his welfare and determine whether he had been the victim of a crime, Sands said.

The largest bill ever printed by the U.S. Mint was the $100,000 bill, according to the Treasury Department. The notes were used only for official transactions for a brief period in the mid-1930s between Federal Reserve Banks and were not circulated among the general public.

The largest bill ever printed for public circulation was the $10,000 bill.

All banknotes above $500 were discontinued in 1969.