Various Articles

One thing to remember is to not let happiness at receiving money blind you to the fact that it might be counterfeit. Ordinary consumers can be victims of this fraud as well as businesses. While advances at the Treasury have made it more difficult for money to be counterfeited, the criminals are always working hard to find ways around the Treasury's roadblocks.

All currency in the US (coins and paper money alike) is the domain of the U.S. Treasury Department. They have many tips for consumers and businesses to help them determine if the money you have is real or counterfit. Good observational skills is the first line of defense against counterfitting, but there are currently new devices that can be used to determine the legitimacy of money you may receive.

According to the Treasury Department, you should take a known legitimate bill and compare it side by side with the suspect bill. Using a magnifying glass, look closely at the facial features and verify the picture is clear with well defined lines and sharp contrast. Typically, the ink in counterfeit money is often smeared, and its appearance is dull and flat.

Next, look at the Federal Reserve and Treasury Seals on the bills. These have a pointed border that looks like the edge of a saw and will be crisp and clean points on real money. Counterfit money may have missing or broken points and the color may be dull as well. Check for the same clarity at the border areas and check for blurring of the elaborate scroll patterns.

Another technique you can use to identify a counterfeit bill is to check the serial numbers. Sometimes counterfeiters use a different font or even a different color when printing their bills. Also, check the spacing and alignment of the numbers and compare the color to the color on the seal.

Most people know that the paper used for American currency has little red and blue threads woven into it to make it distinctive. Most may not know that it is a crime to duplicate this type of paper. One trick counterfeiters use is bleaching the ink from lower denominations and printing higher notes on real paper.

In an even more brazen trick, someone may cut the corners off of a higher-denomination bill and paste them onto a smaller bill in the hope that no one will notice. While we all know that the $10 bill does not have George Washington's face on it, a person in a hurry may accept counterfit money that has been amateurishly prepared. Coins may also be faked, but in practice only very rare coins will be faked.

The Bureau of Engraving and Printing has recently modified U.S. currency as a deterrent to counterfeiting. It says that while the newly designed bills do have an increase in colors, their most important security features owe more to modern technology: on the $50 bill, for example, its new ink, which changes color when you hold it at different angles, as well as its watermark, microprinting, and the imbedding of a thread which reads "USA 50." As a further criminal deterrent, U.S. currency will continue to be modified every seven to ten years.