People who drove or walked along Albert Street on Youngstown's East Side on Friday afternoon thought Christmas had come early.

People were grabbing up handfuls of what appeared to be $100 bills scattered across the road, sidewalks, parking lots and devil strip along the busy road. 

Unfortunately, it was more like April Fool's Day, as the bills were actually movie prop money, which closely resembled the actual bill except it stated on each bill, 'Movie Prop Use Only' and not legal tender.

"I picked a few up out of the water hole and they fell apart," Carl Chaney, Youngstown resident said. "There was cars stopping, pulling over after they seen me picking these things up," he said.

People who found some of the fake bills said there were hundreds of the props scattered on Albert Street near Republic and Victor avenues.

A caller from the nearby VFW Post 3307 said people were scooping up the 'money' until they realized it was fake. 

Chaney said businesses could have received this money and suffered.

"Don't play this game again with us. We would've went and spent it, we would've went to jail on it," Chaney said. "It would've hurt the businesses because they've got counterfeit money," he said.

Youngstown Police told 21 News that while it is not illegal to possess movie prop bills, it is unlawful to attempt to pass them as legal tender. 

It is unclear how the fake bills ended up there.