Oh, you can absolutely laser print bank notes. It used to be a thing in the 90s, either with color laser printers or color photocopiers. Of course, they're absolutely horrid fakes.

Now, the only person dumber than a criminal who would think to try this is a store clerk who would accept these. So it is not an effective crime, unless the effect you want is "jail, quickly". But it is nonetheless a real crime.

Generally counterfeiters will strip the ink from a $1 bill and print a $20 or $50 on it. This way it feels like real money. It is easily detectable if you hold it up to the light, but a cashier might not notice it right away.