It was Halloween, but a sharp-eyed Customs and Border Protection officer was not “tricked” by a man trying to smuggle a massive amount of counterfeit cash into the country at Atlanta's airport.

The 62-year-old American citizen had flown into Hartsfield-Jackson from Peru on Tuesday. An officer noticed him as he picked up his bags and came through Customs, stopped him and talked to him.

“His story sounded plausible, but he had more bags than an average traveler may have and that caused our officer to start inquiring about what was in them,” says Atlanta Port Director Carey Davis. “He couldn't give a very coherent story, so we opened the bags, and concealed within them was a great deal of counterfeit currency.

“It just kept coming. Every time we looked somewhere else, more fake money would fall out.”

Davis says Secret Service arrived and confirmed the stacks of $100 bills were phony.

"It's actually very good quality," says Davis. "It's some of the best I've seen. It wasn't easy to detect by the naked eye."

The bags held a total of $509,700 in counterfeit bills.

The man, whose identity has not been released, was taken into custody by the Secret Service, along with the funny money. The U. S. Attorney's Office in Atlanta will handle the prosecution.

“In FY 2017, the Secret Service responded to 920 counterfeit arrests by other law enforcement agencies worldwide to assist with and further their investigations,” Kenneth Cronin, Special Agent in Charge of the United States Secret Service, Atlanta Field Office, said in a news release.

Davis says at the world's busiest airport, there is no telling what CBP will find on any given day--from animal skins to agricultural products--and the agency's officers are singularly focused.

"If it crosses the border, it's our responsibility," he says. "The officers are highly trained and dedicated; they come here every day and work very long hours.

“They're here to protect the United States, and they do a very good job of it."