Activity

Counterfeit money continues to be a growing problem in the United States. Businesses and individuals are more likely than ever to lose money due to inadvertent possession of counterfeit bills. Part of protecting yourself against becoming a victim of counterfeit money is understanding what makes a legitimate bill.

Counterfeiters are right now utilizing high-tech equipment such as high-resolution color printers to create bogus money. They are even bleaching lower denomination bills and re-printing higher denominations on the bleached paper to try and get past some lower-end detectors. In 2006, the Secret Service reported that 54% of seized counterfeit money was printing on digital printers where this was only 1% of the cases ten years earlier.

The Bureau of Engraving and Printing has implemented several security features into bills now being produces such as watermarks, color-shifting emblems, micro printing and magnetic inks. There are several things to check for when verifying the authenticity of a bill. These are magnetic detection, magnifying detection, watermark detection, ultraviolet detection, light reflection and ink detection.

Authentic bills in the United States, and several foreign currencies, are printed using special magnetic ink. This ink is unique only to authentic bills. Detectors are available to businesses and individuals that are capable of detecting this ink. These detectors are highly effective.

Magnifying is an older and simpler way to combat counterfeit bills. This usually involves some type of magnification device to analyze microscopic details found in authentic bills. This method of verifying fake bills is becoming more difficult to use due to high-resolution printers abilities to reproduce high detail images.

Watermark typically involves a backlight that illuminates a face or other image within the bill.
us counterfeit money for sale is a simple way to verify bills and requires little investment. Due to the use of bleached bills being re-printed with higher denominations, watermarks may still be present in counterfeit bills.

Ultraviolet involves a black light. This light will illuminate a yellowish-green stripe found in most U.S. currencies. This UV stripe cannot be reproduced, but may be present in bleached bills that have been re-printed.

One of the most common detectors is the pen. These pens use an iodine solution that reacts with starch found in most paper. This creates a dark mark. Because U.S. currency does not contain this starch, no mark will appear when the ink is applied. This is an effective counterfeit detection method, but will still not work with bleached bills that have been re-printed.