MELBOURNE BEACH, Fla. — A local Space Coast small business owner is speaking out after a viral video she posted exposing a teenage girl who attempted to pay for a $20 frozen dessert order with a counterfeit $100 bill exploded across social media, racking up more than 8 million views and over 15,000 comments.
Aniyah, the owner of Binghi Ice, a shaved ice and frozen dessert business, posted the original video on May 17. The clip shows a young girl at the service window of the food truck, with the text overlay reading, “She gave me a fake $100 bill and told me to keep the change.” Aniyah captioned the post: “Keep the change with FAKE MONEY is CRAZY” along with the hashtags #binghiice, #melbournebeach, #scammeralert, and #florida.
The video took off almost immediately and has now been viewed more than 8 million times.
The Owner’s Side of the Story
In a follow-up “storytime/update” video and in a statement provided directly to The Space Coast Rocket, Aniyah explained that she made a deliberate choice not to call the police, despite passing a counterfeit bill being a federal crime under 18 U.S.C. § 472 and within the jurisdiction of the U.S. Secret Service.
“I didn’t call the police because honestly I was a teenager once and did stupid stuff (never anything like this before) and I would’ve wanted someone to give me a chance to redeem myself,” Aniyah said. “But, nobody was trying to come up with a solution to the problem, her mom never called, nobody said anything to me at all until after the video was posted and blew up everywhere.”
In her statement to The Rocket, Aniyah described how the situation unfolded at the window.
“Binghi Ice took the situation seriously from the beginning. When the $100 bill was handed to us and we were told to ‘keep the change’ on a $20 order, it immediately raised suspicion because that’s not a normal interaction for a food truck or frozen dessert business,” she said.
“We tried to handle the situation privately and respectfully instead of immediately calling the police. We spoke with her directly, we spoke with the adult we were told was involved, and we gave multiple opportunities for the situation to be resolved. We were told her mother would call and pay for the order, but that never happened.”
Aniyah said that after reviewing the footage and seeing conflicting accounts circulating online about where the counterfeit bill came from, she decided to make the situation public.
“At that point, it stopped being about the $20 and became more about awareness. The video was posted to show other small businesses to stay alert, and also to show younger people that decisions like this can have real consequences.”
“At the end of the day, Binghi Ice provided good service, and the payment presented to us was fake. We tried to approach the situation calmly and privately before anything was ever posted online.”
A Growing Florida Problem: “Motion Picture” Prop Money
The Binghi Ice incident comes amid a documented surge in fake currency circulating throughout Florida — much of it sold legally online as “motion picture prop money” intended for use in films and music videos, but increasingly being passed at small businesses, gas stations, and grocery stores.
In November 2025, the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office issued a public warning after a wave of fake $100 bills marked “for motion picture purposes” began turning up across the Florida Keys. The Key West Police Department issued a parallel warning about counterfeit $20 bills.
According to authorities, the prop bills feature Benjamin Franklin’s portrait and at a glance look convincing, but include telltale markings such as “COPY,” “PROP MOVIE MONEY,” “USED FOR MOVIE GAME,” and a fake seal reading “United States Motion Picture Purpose” instead of the standard U.S. Treasury emblem.
Last month, the Martin County Sheriff’s Office arrested four people accused of trying to pass counterfeit $100 bills at two Publix grocery stores. The U.S. Secret Service reported seizing approximately $21.8 million in counterfeit currency nationwide in 2023.
Knowingly passing counterfeit currency is a federal felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison, even when the dollar amount is small.
How to Spot a Fake
The U.S. Federal Reserve and Secret Service recommend that anyone handling cash — particularly small business owners and food truck operators — check bills for the following security features rather than relying on counterfeit detection pens, which can give false readings:
