Government officials denied allegations that tolling authorities track certain dollar bills.
Some toll collection systems can rat out drivers who have illicit cash to law enforcement, Travis Harwood claimed on an Aug. 10 episode of “The Wild Chaos Podcast.” However, multiple authorities responsible for managing their jurisdiction’s E-ZPass — the main toll collection system in the East Coast — denied that claim.
“The toll booths have a blue band reader on them and they can tell that you have a hundred grand in cash,” Harwood told the host, Bam Marshall.
The episode was about Harwood’s journey from getting into organized crime and leaving that way of life after finding his faith.
“You have to go around the toll booth ’cause I’ve had guys get pulled over from going through the toll booth with cash and they’ll say ‘Where are those 1,500 one-hundred dollar bills that you went through the toll booth with?’” Harwood said.
Harwood soon afterwards gave an anecdote about a drug trafficker he knew who was pulled over when traveling from New Hampshire to Maine after going through a toll booth.
However, the Maine Turnpike Authority told the Daily Caller News Foundation that Maine State Police has not had “any experience” with that practice.
Additionally, the New Hampshire Department of Transportation, Virginia Department of Transportation, and Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission all told the DCNF that the tolling equipment E-ZPass uses cannot identify cash in vehicles.
The U.S. Department of the Treasury (USDT), U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Mint, and multiple state-level transportation authorities did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.
Regardless, this is not the first time that government officials denied such allegations.
“PSA TO ALL SCAMMERS … STOP GETTING $100 BILLS OUT THE BANK,” someone posted on Facebook in September 2021. “POLICE & STATE TROPPERS HAVE A DEVICE THAT TELLS THEM EXACTLY HOW MUCH MONEY U HAVE IN UR CAR.”
The post also claimed that the blue band on such dollar bills is connected to that device and you can get pulled over if you have more than $10,000 worth of them in your vehicle.
However, a spokesperson for the USDT told USA Today later that month that the blue band — which is woven into bills to help spot fakes — is not connected to any GPS or tracking device.
(DCNF)