The Facts About Counterfeit Money

One thing to remember is to not let happiness at receiving money blind you to the fact that it might be counterfeit. Lowly 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 all the time working hard to find ways colse to the Treasury's roadblocks.

The Facts About Counterfeit Money

The Facts About Counterfeit Money

---

The Facts About Counterfeit Money

The Facts About Counterfeit Money

The Treasury branch is responsible for our money, coins and paper money, and they have many tips for checking your money to see if it is real or not. There are also now some tantalizing devices that can be used to confirm that we are not passing or receiving counterfit money instead of the real thing, but observation and facts should be all you need.

It is recommended by the Treasury branch that you assess two bills to check for authenticity. Use the bill you are unsure of, and use a bill you are sure of, such as one you received at a bank. Using a magnifying glass or other enlarging device, look for differing details. Pay particular concentration to the facial details of the portraits. A genuine bill will have a much clearer and more realistic portrait. Fake bills may also appear dingier or have a less vibrant appearance.

The next things to witness are the seals for the Federal support and United States Treasury. Real money will have seals that have a pointed, saw-like border which is distinct and well-defined. Seals on counterfeit money on the other hand will often have broken, missing, or ill-defined edges and may be a dullish color. Also look out for blurriness in the scroll patterns.

An excellent point of reference is the serial number. Counterfeit money often uses a font that does not quite match real money. It also may use a slightly separate color ink. Real money will use even spacing in the middle of the characters which will also be perfectly aligned. Also the color exactly matches the color of the seals.

Paper used for Us bills is a unique type of formulation and has exact colors laid in so it can be identified. It can only be used for money and not copied or imitated for any other purpose. Sometimes, rather than trying to develop paper to match it, citizen bleach the lower denomination bills then print higher values on and try to pass them off as real.

An even more amazingly brazen trick is cutting the corners from higher denominations and pasting them on lower ones hoping no one will notice. The Treasury shows a one dollar bill with a "10" pasted over the one. We all know George Washington is not on bills, but someone rushed might accept even distinct counterfit money. Occasionally, even coins are faked, but this mostly dinky to very rare coins.

American currency has undergone some updating recently to hinder potential counterfeiters. According to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing the newer bills have had some colors added, as well as some more sophisticated safety features. On the new there is color changing ink, that alters According to the angle at which you hold it, there is a new watermark, microprinting, and the embedded 'Usa 50' thread.

The Us Treasury has suggestions for avoiding counterfit money. assess suspicious bills to good ones and check for differences in color, sharpness of printing, depth of images and contrast. A magnifier helps. Saw-edges and borders may be blurred for fake money and higher denomination numbers may be pasted over the ones in corners. Look for the extra paper for currency and a strip with the dollar value on the newer multicolor bills. These also have color changing inks when tilted.

The Facts About Counterfeit Money