Counterfit Money Can Be Recognized With Some Facts
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.
The Treasury Department, who are responsible for all of our coin and paper money, have numerous ways to make sure your money is not fake. Facts and careful observation should be all that is needed, but there are now devices that can be used to confirm that the money being given or received is not counterfit money.
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.
The next thing to look at on the bills would be the Federal Reserve and Treasury Seals. On counterfeit bills the pointed border with its crisp and clean saw-edged look, will be lacking. The borders of these seals on fake bills will be missing, or broken and dull, so check for the clarity of the borders on these seals, as well as for blurring of the intricate scroll patterns.
Serial numbers are another good reference point. Sometimes fake bills will have a slightly different font style than real money or a subtle difference in ink color. Look for even spacing and regular alignment and the color should be the same as the color of the seals.
A little known fact about dollar bills used in the United States is that each bill has blue and red threads woven into the paper. Many are also not aware that duplicating this kind of paper is illegal. Counterfeiters often bleach the ink from smaller bills and use real paper to print higher bills.
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.
People need to be careful not to accept or pass on counterfit money. The Treasury Department produces all United States money, and can give you facts and details about genuine currency to help you. Seals on counterfeit money may be blurred, missing, or dully colored. Fake bills may have a different style or poor alignment in their serial numbers. All genuine US paper money has exactly the same colors that cannot be duplicated. People may print or paste larger denominations on small-denomination bills and try to pass them off as larger bills. New designs for American money have made counterfeiting more difficult.
- lee dobbins
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