US dollar bill with a URL for a hotel in Domincan Republic?

December 28, 2004 10:57 AM

Dollar bill spam? I just got a US dollar bill with a URL on it. Going to said URL brings up the web site of a hotel in the dominican republic. Is this an actual thing? Or is this just someone having some fun?

For the record, the URL: http://hetkasteeltje.net/

posted by o2b to work & money (8 comments total)

Hell, I've seen url's on coffee cup sleeves. I once saw the address of a porn site written on a men's room wall in ballpoint with the word "free" underneath. Call it guerilla marketing. Times are hard in cyberland, I guess.
posted by jonmc at 10:59 AM on December 28, 2004

I guess they used the Where's George? idea.
posted by trey at 11:00 AM on December 28, 2004

The name of the hotel is, weirdly, in Dutch. The little castle, I think.
posted by librarina at 11:43 AM on December 28, 2004

It's a real thing thanks to GoGORILLA.

Oddly though, I've found conflicting information on the legality of defacing US dollar bills. I'd have to imagine there's some sort of law or else we'd see "Free checking!" banking ads on every other note.

Of course, I never use paper money; it's teeming with bacteria: "Freemasons rule the world!"
posted by Loser at 11:51 AM on December 28, 2004

This isn't illegal?
posted by Evstar at 12:09 PM on December 28, 2004

Ok, I'm stupid. Disregard the last post because I was too lazy to read all of Loser's comment. Sorry, O2b.
posted by Evstar at 12:10 PM on December 28, 2004

...with intent to render such item(s) unfit to be reissued

Doesn't sound like a conflict. Altering a bill so that its value is unclear or changed is a crime; alterations that intentionally destroy its usefulness as currency are criminal too. But where is a law indicating that random markings, even stupid or commercial ones, are illegal?
posted by nakedcodemonkey at 12:37 PM on December 28, 2004

On the way back from the post office, I stop at a Bank of America ATM and withdraw from my rapidly disappearing savings. I then convert my withdraw into a wad of low-denomination bills. I feel like a crack dealer. I have an idea.

YOUR INABILITY TO ACHIEVE SOLITUDE MAKES YOU SETTLE FOR SUBSTANDARD RELATIONSHIPS

YOU DON'T BELIEVE MAGIC IS POSSIBLE IN LIVES LIVED WITHIN TRADITIONAL BOUNDARIES

I am writing a list of tragic character flaws on my dollar bills with a felt pen. I am thinking of the people in my universe and distilling for each of these people the one flaw in their character that will led to their downfall -- the flaw that will be their undoing.

-shampoo planet
posted by airguitar at 1:40 PM on December 28, 2004